The dental nurse’s role in orthodontics

Orthodontics was my saviour; I was close to leaving the field of dentistry until I realised its energy and felt inspired by its creativity. I have worked in 25 facilities/clinics/hospitals to date, with over 200 different orthodontic nurses, all with varying skills and expertise. Orthodontics can be an equally rewarding experience for dental nurses. The field is exciting, fluid and constantly moving between aesthetics and function. Patients generally enter the clinic happy to learn more about the functioning of their teeth and excited to embark on their treatment journey. In many cases this means we will be seeing patients for a long time. As treatment progresses, we become a part of their lives for months – sometimes even years! Perhaps the most amazing aspect of being an orthodontic dental nurse is that you can actually connect with the patients due to the length of time you see them for. This is in comparison to other fields in dentistry which deal primarily with the disease and pain from caries, abscesses and the like.