Dental Nurse: What is the cost of hiring?

Why recruit a dental nurse

Dental nurses help ensure the smooth operation of your surgery. They are trained to sterilise dental equipment, making sure that health and safety regulations are followed in the workplace. Dental nurses also assist dentists while they are dealing with patients. These specialised nurses can take notes for patient records and help maintain any special equipment that the dentist requires. 

Qualities of a great dental nurse:

– Ability to tactfully reassure patients who feel anxious about their procedure or checkup

– Scientific knowledge and dental nurse diploma

– Ability to listen to and meticulously follow the dentist’s instructions

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance dental nurse

Employing a dental nurse on a contract or locum basis is useful if you are short-staffed for any reason. This could be if one of your permanent nurses is absent on holiday, sick leave or parental leave. A locum nurse is also useful during particularly busy periods for your surgery and can help to take some of the workload off your other dental staff, leaving your dentists free to deal primarily with procedures. Some dental nurses choose to work as a locum as it offers them a more flexible lifestyle, however, they have to be highly organised and willing to pick up new processes as they move from surgery to surgery. 

What are the different types of dental nurse?

Full-time dental nurses will become familiar with your patients, and this may help to put them more at ease. They will also develop a solid grasp of a specific dentist’s processes and workflows over time. 

Your surgery should have a team of qualified dental workers assisting your dentists. You might recruit a dental receptionist or administrator to help with general administrative duties, which helps free up time for both dental nurses and dentists. They can also take patient requests and field telephone calls. A dental support worker can work alongside both your dental nurses and dentists to provide practical support during operations. They can help reassure nervous patients, sterilise equipment and give advice on oral health to your dentist’s patients.

• Dental support worker: gives your patients advice and support with looking after their teeth, including how to make good oral health choices.
• Dental receptionist: serves as the first point of contact for dental patients.
• Dentist: treats patient oral diseases, firstly by examining oral hygiene and diagnosing any ailments.
• Dental hygienist: works with the rest of your dental team to clean teeth and gives your patients advice regarding looking after their teeth.
• Dental therapist: helps your dental team with routine duties such as putting in or replacing fillings.

Where to find a dental nurse

You can start your search for dental nurses and other dental professionals using the General Dental Council’s database. This helps you to find registered professionals and so, therefore, speeds up your background checking process. Another way to find qualified dental nurses is to attend medical conferences and other networking events. You may also employ trainee or apprentice dental nurses, and train candidates on the job, which will take between 12 and 24 months in total. 

To find the right dental nurse for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Dental nurse apprenticeships: you can recruit fresh talent by providing apprentice dental nurses with on-the-job training schemes.
• Checking medical databases: find qualified, legitimate dental nurses by searching dental professional databases online.
• Attending networking events and conferences: attend medical industry events and conferences to meet potential candidates face-to-face.
• Advertising on your surgery noticeboard: you can advertise vacancies in your practice on your job noticeboard.

Post your job online: Try posting your job for a dental nurse on Indeed to find and attract quality dental nurse candidates.

Skills to look for in a great dental nurse

A great candidate for a dental nurse role will have the following skills and attributes as well as work experience that reflects:

• Excellent hygiene standards
• Ability to follow instructions
• Calm manner
• Respectfulness towards all patients regardless of background
• Methodical and scientific approach

Writing a dental nurse job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified dental nurse candidates. A dental nurse job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your  job description for a dental nurse, consider including some or all of the following keywords to strengthen the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms resulting in clicks on jobs for dental nurses jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Dental nurse
• Trainee dental nurse
• Dental
• Apprenticeship
• Trainee
• Dental nurse trainee

Interviewing dental nurse candidates

Strong candidates for dental nurse positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Storing of confidential patient information
• What drew them originally to dental nursing
• Any on-the-job training and qualifications
• Best practices for sterilising equipment and cleaning up after a procedure
• Conflict management and dealing with difficult patients

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of dental nurse interview questions for examples (with sample answers).