Progress over perfection

How did you first begin your career as a dental nurse?

I started my dental nurse career by total chance! Someone told me that a practice they knew needed a trainee nurse, so I went to the interview not even being sure what being a dental nurse really meant… This was at the end of 2016 and I graduated in the beginning of 2018.

What is it you enjoy most and least about the profession?

One aspect that I love about dental nursing is the fact that we can make a difference in people’s lives every day (I realised this even more while doing my charity work in Cambodia last March). Seeing one patient building their confidence back up, appointment after appointment is truly rewarding, I think most nurses would agree. Wat I enjoy the least in our profession is the lack of visibility and recognition for the work that we do, which I believe reflects in many of our low salaries as well. I think we are seeing lots of demotivation and frustration within the dental nursing profession, which leads to many dental nurses making the decision to leave. I have to confess I have felt similarly at certain points and made the decision to take a year off and reflect before starting my job at Eastman.