What do you tell your patients?

Our day starts with making tea – most importantly, caffeine fuels a dental nurse. We then start setting up our surgeries, obviously washing our hands first using the correct hand-washing techniques, which are displayed around the practice. We start by turning on all the equipment and making sure it’s in full working order. The dental chair water lines are then flushed through with purified and treated water. We then make sure our instruments are put into the correct places ready for the day ahead. Instruments are separated to the dentist’s side and the dental nurse’s side – this is more important than it sounds. While setting up, we also collect dentures, crowns and any other lab work ready for the day and we also check the list of patients and treatment planned for the day. To finish setting up, we get the dentists, patients and our own personal protective equipment (PPE) out ready for use – safety first!