Dental nurse Annija Mantaja talks about her role as a professional educator for Philips...

What drove you to take on a role as a professional educator for Philips?
I began my career in dentistry in 2016 after I had studied tourism for three years. I came across a dental nurse apprenticeship and started working in a dental practice pretty much straight away. It did not take me long to qualify – in fact, I was one of the youngest in my practice team to complete the course so quickly and qualified in 2017.

Soon after I was promoted to a senior dental nurse position which I thoroughly enjoyed. I gained a lot of experience and knew I had many skills which would enable me to explore other options for a different career path. I came across the professional educator role for Philips via LinkedIn. The company was initially looking for dental hygienists and therapists, but I applied for the job knowing I had many of the requisite skills to offer. At the time of the interview, there were nine other people present, predominantly hygienists and therapists who all went to university and were very experienced. Philips’ team were so encouraging and offered me the job as they saw the potential in me, that I would grow into something bigger. They offered me more education to support me. I have taken extra oral health education courses since and I could not have done without them.

Who has been an inspiration to you in dentistry?
I find so much inspiration from dental professionals on social media platforms because it is such a big part to everyone’s life at the moment. There are very inspirational dentists, hygienists and dental nurses on Instagram and I follow them avidly. Since starting my job as a Professional Educator for Philips, I have felt very privileged to work with my colleagues who have been an inspiration. Laura McClune, for instance, has been a dental hygienist for around 15 years and Chair of the BSDHT South East regional group and also does university courses- it is so rewarding to work with people like her.

Why do you think that Philips set up a panel of professional educators? What is the rationale behind it?
Philips created the educator role to bring together a team of like-minded people in the industry to educate and inspire professionals in equal measure. For people like me, who have a passion for what we do and love dentistry and enjoy talking about it – it is a way to help our peers get as much out of it as we do. We typically go into practices and support them with education sessions - and they really appreciate the support. At the moment, we naturally do more virtual sessions and focus on lunch and learns via Zoom, so its Zoom for Zoom! This helps give practitioners another perspective of Philips and they get CPD too.

If the practice is an existing Philips’ customer, I find out about their recent interactions with us; I find out if they need any educational resources or marketing materials and check if dental professionals are confident about talking about products and if they are informed enough to recommend Philips’ products to their patients.

For practices which have not had much to do with Philips before, I explain more about Philips as a company and our role as professional educators and offer both education and product information.

I’m happy to chat to anyone who has not had any exposure to Philips before. It is exciting to let people know that products are now very affordable, and more importantly it gives dental professionals a chance to give a choice to their patients and present all the options to them as, for example, not one brush works for everyone. It is important to see what else is on the market and to assess what works best for different patients’ needs.

Another aspect of our role is to talk to students. The students are very receptive and open to learning about everything. We offer free toothbrushes for them try first, and give them resources for their course work, and they genuinely appreciate our help.

What difference would it have meant for you if you had had such education and support available when you were starting out as a dental nurse?
It would have made a big difference. As educators we ensure we talk to the whole team – especially the reception team and dental nurses. I remember how hard it was being a trainee nurse - so can empathise, and they really appreciate the support. The only support back then would have been from my dentist, as the practice manager was not clinically trained.

Do you feel you are making a difference?
I do feel I am making a difference. In the last year or so, the company announced that they were going to solely focus on health technology. They really care about peoples’ lives. They create technologies that help people throughout their lives - there are so many touch points from hospitals to the dental practice. Their vision and mission is to improve people’s lives by 2030 and are working closely with the NHS. Philips also values their staff who have the same mindset of making a difference.

Tooth whitening has been available for a long time; why do you feel that there is still a job to educate dental professionals about the subject?
We do talk about whitening too with our whitening lunch and learn. Dentists don’t get taught a lot about whitening in university, so it is down to whitening companies to provide information. Not everyone has an interest in whitening, or they think they already know everything about the subject. We explain what’s in the Philips gels, how to use them, and why this is such a safe and effective option.

What are the challenges of being a Philips professional educator?
There can indeed be some challenges, we understand that it can be limiting for some practitioners to fit in learning during their working day – that’s why we are happy to book at a time that suits everyone, including one-to-one sessions and now via daily webinars.

What key benefits are there to working as part of a professional educator team?
My colleagues who are very involved with dental associations share what the values are and what they want to see in the future, each of us share our university experiences, and any business ideas.

How can you help dental professionals now?
We are also particularly excited to be offering free CPD webinar sessions. Digital education methods are becoming ever more popular; we are now offering CPD webinar sessions on a number of topics.

For more information, contact dental.sales.support@philips.com

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