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Nascot Dental Team Trainings Head Tutor Verne Rice has been NEBDN Qualified 30 Years and talks about her Dental Career 

I can’t quite believe I have now been qualified 30 years, after passing my NEBDN qualification in November 1992.

My clinical career as a Dental Nurse started in summer 1989.  I have since this time had the opportunity to  work in both private and NHS practices, been a Head Nurse, Practice manager and since 2016 a Dental Tutor. During my career I have seen many changes and developments in Dentistry.

Back in June 1989, when my career started as a Trainee Dental Nurse in an NHS practice and I can remember that day as if it was yesterday.  It was a hot summer and I had been sunbathing the day before and was now suffering with sunburn. My uniform was a popper button up dress that came “unpopped” frequently!

We never wore any PPE, only sterilised extraction instruments.  All other instruments were “Cold Sterilised” along with metal aspirator tubes and mouthwash cups.

Our suction system wasn’t central so every evening we emptied a bottle (affectionally called “slopping out”) of the days salvia and haemoglobin. The materials were also basic with only one Glass Ionomer available as a luting and restoration material along with amalgam and putty with a wash that was hand mixed with an activator.

It wasn’t until I studied the NEBDN qualification and moving to another practice in 1991 that I realised “Cold Sterilisation” did not exist and we had in fact been disinfecting all the instruments, handpieces and metal mouthwash cups.

Over the next 20 years our PPE changed- we now wore gloves, masks, visors with huge emphasis in cross infection control which became paramount. New treatments and materials became available – in fact dentistry had changed beyond recognition since my first day way back in June 1989.

One of the biggest changes besides PPE, materials and fast developing treatments and technology was mandatory registration for Dental Nurses and the Care Quality Commission. Registration for Dental Nurses brought with it the need for Continued Professional Development.

It was on an Infection Control course back in 2008 by a prominent professor that I first heard the word “Pandemic”. He talked about the likelihood of a worldwide pandemic with Dental Staff wearing breathing apparatus and haslet type PPE. At the time this seemed highly unlikely and rather unthinkable……

In March 2020 the UK went into full lockdown with Dental Practices closed, many dental staff furloughed or being made redundant. In June 2020 it was announced that new Special Operation Procedures and enhanced PPE Dental Practices would once again open for face-to-face treatment.

As a tutor I am a firm believer that it is important I still work in a clinical environment (1-2 days per week) this not only allows me to be up to date with any new treatments, be able to be empathic with my students. This could not have been more significant than returning to clinic in June 2020, we had new SOPs to adhere to, mask fitting for FFP3 masks, fallow times, air filters, wearing a face covering around the practice (that was extremely difficult as I was trained to NEVER leave the clinical environment wearing any PPE), setting everything out before treatments, deep cleaning of surgeries.

Yes, it has been hard.  Dentistry has changed and it’s been a very difficult past few years for us all. I also have had times when I have struggled mentally with all the pressure of Covid 19, New PPE, new SOPs combined with the stress of teaching and preparing my students for their examinations during a worldwide pandemic.

Many have asked why I went back? For my students – how can I be a good empathic Tutor understanding my students’ worries or concerns if I have not experienced the “New Normal” in Dentistry at that time. However, thankfully things are now getting back to some kind of normality.  It’s not only understanding the new procedures, protocols in place and support, it’s also experiencing them thus enabling me to reassure my students throughout their learning journey. I enjoy nothing more than watching my learners develop and learn with many going onto have amazing careers as dentists, hygienists, orthodontic therapists , practice managers, head nurses or becoming self-employed locums running their own businesses. I am looking forward to continuing in my Teaching role delivering a fun, innovative learning experience to the next generation.

I still to this day work in clinic occasionally though my main role is Head Tutor at Nascot Dental Team Training sharing my wealth of knowledge with a new generation of learners. My teaching career started in 2016 when l obtained a Level 3 Diploma in teacher training then progressing to graduating with my teaching degree in 2018. I have taught for private, and government founded colleges delivering the NEBDN Qualifications with also occasionally teaching Oral Anatomy units in other subjects.

SmileWisdom, an NEBDN accredited Delivery Site, has worked with NEBDN since 2011. Their Admissions Director, Rebecca Madigan, gives us an insight into the working relationship and how SmileWisdom work with NEBDN to encourage dental nurse career progression.

At SmileWisdom we are passionate about dental nurse training and development along with jobs and recruitment, so it means a lot to us to be able to run an approved NEBDN dental nursing Diploma along with a range of Post-Registration NEBDN courses. For the last 10 years we’ve kept in touch with NEBDN on a regular basis to constantly improve on Learners education when it comes to dental nursing. Through working with them we can adopt a clear direction with a scheme of work to train up successful dental nurses of which we’re proud to have a 95% pass rate at first attempt. A yearly audit by NEBDN of our working frame and requirements means that we can be confident we are offering our Learners the best education from a leading awarding body in the UK. As our Consulting Director, Ewa Assaker says, “It give us huge reassurance knowing that the programs we provide comply with the Standards for Education and the regulations and legislation of the  General Dental Council (GDC) enabling us to deliver courses that uphold the standards of patient care. In education we put safety first, making sure our Learners are able to safely deliver in clinic what they learn in the classroom. ”

Our relationship with NEBDN is always a two-way conversation where we can reach out to them at any point if we are facing any challenges to receive support and constructive feedback with a patient-care focus. They help us to find better solutions for Learners allowing us to constantly improve the way we work. Learners education and progression is always at the forefront of our minds alongside the wellbeing of our team and their expert qualifications. Ewa adds, “NEBDN really guides us to provide that A-Z career progression for nurses, starting from Diploma Level 3. They’re always trying to look at the positive side, find the constructive feedback, say what we’re doing well and also give us guidance on how to improve things along with the freedom to make the right choices. All NEBDN processes encourage us in a positive way to fall into the correct working frame of student dental nurses.”

NEDBN regularly checks we are delivering in all respects – guiding us to create lesson plans, checking Learners facilities, verifying team qualifications, structuring the marking guides, looking at health and safety, sampling Learners work, monitoring attendance policies, helping to schedule mock exams, promoting equality and diversity, helping with enrolment processes and more. It’s really reassuring for our Learners to know that we are reviewed so thoroughly on a regular basis as providers. NEDBN works with us to give everyone equal opportunity to be able to enrol on our dental nursing diploma and give Learners different pathways to enrol. Learners can be safe in the knowledge that they are receiving the best education possible from the team at SmileWisdom. Ewa comments, “Since 2011 it’s been a long journey for us, and I’ve seen NEBDN really grow in their structure, online systems and online platforms, allowing us to effectively deliver Learners education online. NEBDN has really helped us to grow to the level we’re at now, from only 10 nurses on the course back in 2011 to over 250 Learners today.”

We all know how challenging 2020 was for many businesses but with NEBDN’s help we were able to implement accredited online learning for our Learners within a matter of weeks. The flexibility of NEBDN’s online exam delivery meant that our Learners didn’t suffer any delays or breaks in learning and that something we envisaged implementing in three years’ time was able to be up and running so quickly. When the pandemic hit, we worked very hard as a team to make online learning happen and to have the support of the NEBDN was invaluable to us.

Dental nursing has evolved into a respected profession with practices seeing the unique value that a qualified dental nurse brings not only to the patients but to the business as well. Professional dental nurses have become a very important part of dentistry offering chair side support, helping to improve working times for the dentist and waiting time for the patients. As a result, dentists are now encouraging nurses more and more to attend post graduate courses. We started offering postgraduate courses three years ago and SmileWisdom currently offers NEDBDN qualifications in Dental Implant Nursing *Level 4, Dental Radiography *Level 4, Oral Health Education *Level 4 as well as a range of CPD and eCPD for dental professionals.

Career progression is something we take very seriously to help our Learners with, and we don’t say goodbye once the education part is over. SmileWisdom has the largest job site when it comes to dental nursing and practice support staff, with around 750 jobs from companies such as Bupa, MyDentist, Dentex, Portman, Royal Navy and a growing number of independent practices.

Josh and Katherine in our jobs and recruitment team are passionate about helping both Learners and qualified dental nurses find their dream job. So, once you’re enrolled on a course with us you really do become part of the SmileWisdom family, and we relish nothing more than to see dental nurses do well!

If you would like more information on enrolling with us as a Centre, click here

Visit our jobs site at www.smilewisdom.co.uk/jobs

*Listed qualifications are equivalent to level 4.

Written by Becky Madigan

Admissions Director

This month we hear from Sangita Marahatta, Founder and Director at Forward Academic Team Ltd. to share her success and experience working as a course provider for NEBDN and talk about how she built her business up from one centre to eight, sitting approximately 150 students a year.

Sangita founded Forward Academic in 2016 and has kindly written this article for NEBDN, to share her recruitment and marketing tips with other industry professionals. Read below:

Forward Academic started to deliver the Diploma in Dental Nursing in January 2016, with a vision to produce dedicated and high-quality Dental Nurses to fulfil the high demand of the profession. Forward Academic has a minimum of five-six cohorts in the year. We do this to give our learners a chance to enroll on the course without having to wait for too long.

We started with a head office in the southeast of London and since 2017, expanded to eight other centres in Woolwich, Harrow, Maidstone, Folkestone, Swindon, Farnborough, and Basingstoke. We believe in diversity, and we are proud to serve multinational learners in our institution.

We were in the process to register for more centres before the UK was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Establishing more centres while still new to the market was a challenge. But we took different approaches to recruiting, including advertisements, small informative seminars in different locations with different communities, local radio interviews, local newspaper, and job sites. Word of mouth recommendation was also a strong factor. NEBDN has been extremely supportive throughout our accreditation and audit reviews.

The procedure to open more centres was not difficult for us and despite NEBDN’s high-quality aspirations set out in their Accreditation Standards, we received very prompt and supportive guidelines from NEBDN and our Quality Assurance manager, which made the completion and addition of the further centres a smooth process.

As well as the above, regular posting on our website and social media accounts have been one of the best tools. Forward Academic provides free video consultations and has done since the country went into lockdown, so our prospective learners get some interaction during this difficult time. We do not only give the overview of the course, but we help them with career aspirations and guide them throughout. We communicate with dental practices regularly to mutually work for the benefit of our trainees and that NEBDN’s mission is fulfilled with a high-quality learning and training environment. In our experience, people have been greatly attracted to dental nursing in recent years. Even some established professionals from other industries have changed their career choice to becoming a Dental Nurse. With the hospitality and many other industries hard hit with job loss due to COVID-19, we have recruited those to dental nurse training, and they have been able to happily work in the dental practices.

The beginning of 2020 was the most challenging time with the dilemma about what we would do when the whole country was badly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. But with the support of NEBDN announcing all its exam online, we rose from that difficulty to offer our classes online. We had to ensure our software was accessible to all the learners and sustainable on our platform, which was very challenging, but we have been very lucky and have continued to recruit the learners who are interested to participate in lessons online and deliver all our classes through real online systems. We are very happy with the way students have coped with the new system despite this difficult time.

NEBDN’s announcement of online exams was a great tool to ease off the stress and panic of the learners. They were really worried for their safety and wellbeing during this time, but with the news of online exams, our candidates felt very supported and capable of doing their exams in a secure environment at home or in practice. New learners prefer this style now.

We chose NEBDN over competitors because NEBDN’s course format is really straightforward, and the learners can qualify in a short duration achieving all the necessary learning outcomes. The written exams and OSCEs are of high standard and NEBDN’s website is full of resources for course providers, tutors, learners and the dental practices. Sample exams, guidance documents and videos are easily accessible to all. The webinars and seminars run by NEBDN on a regular basis are useful, as it gives us an opportunity to interact with staff and other course providers.

Even during the lockdown, we have received prompt help and assistance via email from NEBDN which is invaluable to us. Forward Academic aims to continue working with NEBDN offering the National Diploma and Dental Radiography.

We aim to expand our Post-Registration qualification courses in the future.

Sangita Marahatta-Sharma

Founder and Director