Dental Nurse

Job overview

King’s College Hospital’s Department of Community Special Care Dentistry is split into 3 geographical Lots and covers the boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Merton Sutton and Croydon, Kingston and Richmond and Wandsworth. This role is for Merton, Croydon and Sutton; The main roles of our service are:

• The monitoring of the dental health of all age groups in the population.
• The provision of dental health education and preventive programmes.
• The provision of facilities for a full range of treatment to patients who have experienced difficulty in obtaining treatment in the general dental service, or for whom there is evidence that they would not otherwise seek treatment from the general dental services. Including one or more of the following;

Ø physical disability

Ø complex medical condition

Ø learning disability

Ø severe mental health condition

Ø Severe anxiety/phobia.

Ø Children with complex dental needs

More info contact Nicola Humphrey via email: n.humphries@nhs.net

Main duties of the job

Receiving and preparing patients for their visit; at any setting, and for any appointment type including treatment under conscious sedation.

Assisting clinicians in the full range of dental treatment and procedures, ensuring that relevant information about the patient, including any change in his/her condition, is reported to the dentist.

• Checking patients' fitness for discharge after extractions/sedation. Providing pre and post-operative care.
• Re-assuring and informing the patient about further treatment and arranging appointments.
• Preparation and participation in domiciliary care for elderly and patients who have difficulty in leaving their homes. Being aware of your surroundings and the property of the patient.
• Preparation and participation in the treatment of patients in the mobile dental unit in outreach settings and high security hospitals.
• Where appropriate, assisting with patients receiving treatment under general anaesthetic.
• Giving patients, parents or carers oral hygiene instruction and advice.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Setting and closing down surgery, ensuring all quality control checks are carried out
• Fully competent in the mixing of all dental materials
• Processing and mounting of radiographs. To clean, maintain and test processor according to agreed procedures.
• Management of surgery clinical waste, dealing appropriately and safely with hazardous or toxic waste materials
• Disinfecting and packaging dental laboratory work and arranging collection
• Monitoring, maintaining, testing and reporting faults on equipment and medical devices including decontamination equipment
• Carrying out all decontamination processes and adhering to the department’s Infection Control and decontamination policy. Including hand hygiene, uniform and blood borne virus policy.
• Reporting any problems to line manager or service managers.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.