Registered Nurse by Profession... Dental Nurse in Action

I am a Dental Nurse and I am proud! I am a nurse by profession, I don’t even know anything on dentistry but learning is a virtue. I learned how to assist and do the job as an accomplice of my dentist across the full range of treatment provision. To be one of us you will need an excellent communication skills, a caring nature and be highly organised. Being a Dental Nurse you should be friendly, approachable, reliable, calm and be flexible enough to respond with unexpected situations as they arise. It is not as easy as you may know, a lot of guts are needed and patience during working period. Being knowledgeable is not enough, you must be skillful in action and works with strategies.

My work is like a light cure, once I point the light to the material it will be stronger and harder. I started from scratched, without knowledge on dentistry is like seeing a blank page of a book. I just learned from observing and with the help of other colleagues and free lectures which lightened up my knowledge on the job. Through exposure and experience which helps me a lot to know more about my job. To the dentist who are very strict and wants me to focus only while at work, who is very toxic and meticulous helps me how to be strong and take everyday as a challenge to pursue. If you quit, then you lose!

My work can be compared to a composite filling it is white, physically natural, just like how I naturally overcome each day of duty. No leakage, because it needs to be avoided and fixed. A good strategy at work make things simple and without complications. Everyday is like a filling that needs to be perfectly done.

My work is like an alginate at first in powder form once you mix in with water the consistency will change and immediately hardened, so be quick or else you will be thrown. Working as fast as I can with good quality is my goal. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bounded to minimize and prevent patient from waiting and complaining because patient is the center of my job.

The work of a dental nurse can be compared to burs, many kinds, many forms and many uses but each has its own characteristics and uses. I can go deep or just on the surface. As a dental nurse I can work like burs of different types. I can endure stress and attain more patience, for the patient is the center of my job. I should know my patient’s rights but also know my rights as a medical worker. Like drillings to remove the decays of your tooth, I drilled every challenging day facing every moments of our patient’s visits and help them overcome their fear while sitting on the dental chair.

Occlusal, palatal, mesial and distal any surface of your tooth can be treated by the dentist, but as a dental nurse we work with our dentist at any surfaces throughout the day. To work in multitasking mode is our assets. To work side by side with the receptionist and assure that our patient has given the right appointments and correct payments, to communicate with the call center to ensure that they booked us the right patient, to send approvals by the insurances, to ensure that clinics are well prepared for the patient and all the materials needed are complete and to assist our dentist all throughout each treatments. It is stressful but a job well done at the end of the day.

As a scaler tip do the job to clean up in between your gums, removes plaques and tartar and make your gums healthy. My job is to maintain that all the surfaces of my clinic are clean and properly disinfected. I see to it that my patient will be safe and free from bacteria as they enter inside the clinic and sits on the dental chair. Though sometimes even how we maintain the cleanliness patient still become sensitive and look for your  flaws, just like after scaling was done when the enamel becomes thin which causes teeth hypersensitivity. When this happens the teeth are more vulnerable to decays and bacteria, however the errosion cannot be blame to dental scaling itself. Same as with our work we cannot blame the dental nurses if they show sensitivity sometimes because we don’t know what happen inside the clinic so don’t make judgment of their work or make your fingers pointed with them we’ll never know.

A patient who suffered from severe tooth pain goes to the clinic and as a result of the xray root canal needs to be done to ease the pain. As the dentist do everything to save one’s tooth not to extract it but gives hope to it. Just like our job we suffer from tiredness, hunger sometimes because our focus is work and we can never leave a patient alone. Never say no to walk ins as well. Sufferings are just temporary but the fullfillment at work is forever.

A crown wether e-max or zirconia, neither of the two the only important is saving each tooth and helps it become stronger after the root canal treatment was done. Either functional or only aesthetically as long as you show the world a big smile and be proud. This is how our job goes. A dental nurse to save the day, to be strong is our attitude. The dentist saves the patient’s teeth and help them gain the beautiful smile indeed. We, as their assistant even though how stressful each multitasking day will be; at the end of the day we are proud to say “THANKS GOD WE SURVIVED, AND WE WILL SURVIVE.”

“A job well done is a great fullfillment, learning from mistakes is essential than doing mistakes without learning at all”

By:

Mae Chricelle

RN by profession

Dental Nurse in action