Finding the Best Dental Training

If you are considering dental training to become a qualified dental nurse, or already working within the profession in another capacity but considering dental CPD, you need to understand the recognized routes into this role. It's vital that dental courses provide a solid foundation for your career progression, but it isn't always straight forward to understand the differences between them. This guide gives key points of the National Certificate and the NVQ level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship, and funding for dental CPD.

1. The National Certificate

This is dental training provided by the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses. Students must complete their Record of Experience, including Personal Experience Record Sheets (PERS) for numerous dental treatments and duties. There is also a 1,000 word case study to complete, focusing on one particular patient for a restorative procedure, a surgical procedure or the provision of a fixed or removable prosthesis. All this must be completed before taking the exam. This is then a 2 hour written paper, a spotter exercise, a practical exam and an Oral exam., All components must be completed successfully for qualification.

Of the two dental courses discussed here, it doesn't place much emphasis on English language, for example, spelling, punctuation and grammar. Sometimes students are at a disadvantage when it comes to the everyday operations within real life dental clinics. Letters have to be written, mental arithmetic helps when you're calculating billing and accounts and so on. You could consider whether a combination of The National Certificate and some further dental CPD such as Customer Service to NVQ level 2 or 3 and/or Business Administration could help you progress.

2. NVQ level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship

This is dental training administrated by the government recognized awarding body City and Guilds. Students must achieve level 2 of the through the "Key Skills" programme in both English and Maths through the "Key Skills", which is equivalent to GCSE Grade C. Communication Key Skills mean students are expected to be speaking confidently for over four minutes, develop competent discussion skills, be able to read and summarise documents in English well, and of course, write the appropriate documents themselves. The Application of Number component of the course may still not be all some students require for real life practice. Again, consider whether additional dental CPD in Customer Service NVQ level 2 or 3 and/or Business Administration will enhance your career prospects.

Bear in mind that over the next year, "Key Skills" are changing to "Functional Skills", whereby the English and Maths components will become part of a project which it to be directly relevant for dental courses by focusing on the dental workplace. In the future, these new "Functional Skills" components will be available as stand alone qualifications.

3. Funding Options

Whilst the majority of dentists recognize the much older National Certificate, funding isn't the same for these dental courses by any means. The National Certificate is accredited by the GDC and to attract funding, it must also be demonstrably structured and managed according to the standards stipulated by the Joint Qualifications Committee (JCQ). There is some NHS funding available, providing the dentist applying works under an NHS contract. By contrast, funding is typically more straightforward for the NVQ level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship, as it is run by a government recognized awarding body, namely the City and Guilds.

Tempdent are a unique dental agency providing dental training leading to professional qualification for UK dental nurses and dental receptionists. Tempdent give advice on both dental CPD and dental recruitment.