No two days are the same for a busy dental nurse, says Jenny: “If I’m in surgery it’s very busy. I work with a dentist 2 days per week who does Denplan, private, NHS children and implants. On other days, I do oral health sessions, visit schools, see patients for Medenta and implants.”
Jenny’s interest in becoming a dental nurse started when she was a ‘Skills for Health’ Cadet. She says “I was originally looking to do general nursing but my friends advised dental nursing was a good career so I decided to look into it. After reading up on what a dental nurse does and speaking to fellow dental nurses already in the profession, I knew it was the road I wanted to go down - what attracted me was the opportunity to train for other careers after you were qualified.”
Jenny is dedicated to making a success of her career, putting herself forward for numerous opportunities to develop her career through further training: “I try to put myself forward when extra training is available. I try to give every job I do 100% and enjoy working closely with patients. I work with the lead clinician in the practice and find that she is an excellent support in enabling me to learn more.”
“When I trained to do oral health and fluoride applications, it didn’t really take off at first, but after the rebrand to mydentist, my manager and I put together a plan of action which I have then continued to develop. That’s what I love about working at mydentist, I enjoy my job and feel supported and enabled to continue with my development.”
Jenny is currently making a name for herself, as she is a driving force of the mydentist Kids’ Club initiative, which focuses on educating children on oral hygiene. “I contact the schools, nurseries and children’s centres to see if they would be interested in me visiting them. Before my visits, I put together a ‘goodie bag’ which includes toothpaste samples, activity sheets and leaflets about the practice, oral health info covering diet and tooth-brushing, a mydentist balloons and stickers and a tooth-brushing chart.”
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“After introducing myself, I ask the children if they have brushed their teeth that morning to start the session. I find that asking them questions keeps them interested. We play an educational game which involves the children putting foods into ‘happy tooth’ and ‘sad tooth’ boxes. During our group discussion I like to focus on tooth brushing techniques, the importance of brushing, cavities and the importance of adult teeth – It’s always fun to pass around dentures so that the children see what can happen if you don’t brush their teeth”
Jenny would like to continue her work on oral health over the next year, increasing awareness in the area that her practice is the place to go for good preventative advice and support. Jenny attributes her biggest achievement so far as her competency in implant work, and so long term would be interested in implant nursing full time, which she feels she’ll certainly be able to achieve with mydentist.
In her spare time, Jenny enjoys being with friends, the gym and is an avid Harry Potter fan. She also enjoys performing arts, and travelling around the world.