Training advice to become a dental nurse

[micksheff 10]

Can anyone give me advice on training to become a dental nurse and then a fully qualified dentist.

 

Cheers

[happyhippy 11]

Hope this helps

 

Have you any experience in this field?

[micksheff 10]

Hope this helps

 

Have you any experience in this field?

 

Thankyou verymuch for the info, its for a friend of mine, she doesnt have previous experience, she is working as a nurse at the moment and would like to move into dentistry.

[Lindseyw 10]

I always thought it was a 5 years at Uni kinda job - not from nurse to dentist ?

[Guest]

Can anyone give me advice on training to become a dental nurse and then a fully qualified dentist.

 

Cheers

It's very unusual for a dental nurse to go on to be a dentist, as they are completely separate career paths.

 

To qualify as a dentist, you'll need a clutch of high-grade GCSEs and A Levels to enter a dentistry course at university. It's very competitive. Here's a link to the course at Birmingham Uni.

 

The entrance requirements stated will be the minimum requirement. In practice, the successful candidates are highly likely to have four A grade A Levels or the equivalent.

[Twiglet 10]

If she is currently a qualified nurse, dental nursing will be a step backward. People usually get into it by getting a job as a dental nurse at a practice then doing an NVQ or certificate part time at college. The pay is generally pretty poor.

 

Becoming a dental nurse would not provide any advantage to an application to dental school to train as a dentist, for which Hecate's advice is very sound.

[banesmabes 10]

My sister is a dental nurse, and even with 10 years experience, the pay is very poor (nowhere near the figures given on the career advice link above!). She has always been of the impression that the only career progression would be to become a dental hygienist, doing some basic dental work like scale and polishes, and giving talks in schools etc on oral hygiene. Having dental experience could perhaps give you an edge over other applicants for a Dentistry degree, but you would also have to achieve the same grades as anyone else, as stated above. It would just perhaps make you stand out from the crowd of people with straight As at A Level.

[weenireeni 10]

banesmabes, how did your sis get into dental nursing? all the vacancies i see want someone with experience and fully qualified, is college the only route?

 

thanks

[banesmabes 10]

banesmabes, how did your sis get into dental nursing? all the vacancies i see want someone with experience and fully qualified, is college the only route?

 

thanks

 

She went on a Sheffield College course about 10 years ago. I believe it was classroom based with a year long placement at Charles Clifford at the end of it, and she got a job from being fully qualified. She was talking about the younger nurses recently and saying that it was all done by NVQ now (which implies you need the job first), and that her boss was only interested in people with no experience because he could pay them less while they did their NVQ!

[banesmabes 10]

Looks like Sheffield College now provide an apprenticeship course:

 

http://my.sheffcol.ac.uk/index.cfm?PID=3732A3CA-D3DA-4F34-B378-51818C41A6FF&cmd=Course&Course=AP008

[weenireeni 10]

yeh ive rung sheff coll about the apprenticeship before, but they said id have to find my own employer.

 

i sent CVs and letters to tons of dentists and never heard anything back

[EstherC 10]

To become a dental nurse you need to find a position as trainee dental nurse in practice and do the national or NVQ qualification - however by september this will become the new dental nurse diploma. These qualifications can be done by distance learning programs or at sheffield college as day release) Sheffiled college do this qualification.

To become a dentist you do not need dental nursing. You can progress through dental nursing but would need to jump through many holes. A simpler option would be to do the access to higher education course (or specific A Levels needed) and apply to do dentistry at university. Another option would be to do dental nursing followed by dental hygeine and Therapy diploma/degree which involves, fillings, cleaning and extracting baby teeth but no diagnosis (this is done by the dentist who then refers to the therapist to carry out the work) but no prosthetic work.

You don't acually need dental nursing for this and can apply with access to higher ed course or ALevels but dental nursing would help with the competition to get in. Sheffield dental Hospital do this and the application process is separate to UCAS (April - September). Leeds do the degree so UCAS is the way to apply. If you choose not to dental nurse first then perhaps work experience is a good idea before applying for dentistry/hygeine therapy as the interviewer for the course will be glad to know you know what you're getting yourself into. Hope this helps

Edited April 4, 2011 by EstherC