The bridge between

How long have you been a dental nurse and what made you choose dental nursing as a career pathway?

I began dental nursing in 1999, and the way I chose my career was fortuitous really. I went to university and quickly realised it just wasn’t for me, like many others I chose a degree that just followed what I studied at college. It just seemed the sensible thing to do at the time... I then came home, and my parents promptly told me I needed a full-time job (quite rightly so!).

I looked through The Echo newspaper job section and the medical field always stood out to me. I saw an advert for a dental nursing position, and had a flash of childhood memory, having a check-up and seeing the dental nurse taking notes, coming in and out with shiny instruments, and I thought – yes! I could do that. I applied for several different positions and had two interviews, the first wasn’t successful and then the second I didn’t hear from for a while. So I assumed I had been unsuccessful, but one day I came home to a message left on the answering machine (do people have them anymore?) offering me the job. I could not wait to begin and was thrilled to see what would be in store!