‘Humbled’ – dental nurse Mary's enlightening homecoming

I was humbled when I first came back to Zimbabwe, having spent 15 years in the UK and 10 years of being a dental nurse under my belt. Growing up, I never visited a dentist. I never had a problem with my teeth and it wasn’t a priority. Most people I knew used to visit the dentist whenever they needed an extraction! So when I had to come back here, I thought I knew it all – was I in for a big surprise!

Qualified

I fell into dental nursing. It was back in 2005. I had just finished Access to Higher Education – Health Studies at Milton Keynes College. I wanted to do general nursing or mental health nursing. I also had an unconditional offer from Bedford University to study Criminal Psychology and Forensics. I love forensics and would have been my dream job but being a foreign student, the fees were a bit much for me. Remembering that a friend had previously given me a college application form for dental nursing, I searched for it and applied. I got a place and started in December. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I just needed to be qualified for something whilst I looked for a place to study as a nurse.The first time I ever entered a dental practice was when I was submitting my CV for dental nurse placement. I needed a place to either volunteer or work as dental nurse because theory didn’t make sense at all in college. Only later did it made sense after I started working as a trainee dental nurse at Doherty and O’Connor Dental practice in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, towards the end of January 2006. I worked there for about 10 years, combining that with agency work, which boosted my experience. I had found my vocation.