A day in the life of our Head Orthodontic Nurse – Laurie’s story!

A day in the life of an Orthodontic nurse is a full and varied one. Completing many tasks to a high standard and all the while building positive relationships with our team and our patients. We make sure that practitioners have all the required instruments and necessary paperwork for their patient’s appointments, infection control is maintained to the highest standard and that patients are fully informed of our expectations throughout their treatment, for example oral hygiene. And that is just the beginning!

I started working as an orthodontic nurse almost 6 years ago. I took a bit of a gamble applying for the position. I didn’t have as much experience in orthodontics as a specialist practice requires but I was very keen to branch out into the area of expertise.

Within a few months of working at the practice, I had been in-house trained in several areas including four handed dentistry, impression taking, clinical photographs, treatment coordinating, reception skills and more. My principal later invested in me doing the Radiography course with the BDA for which I was extremely grateful to be improving my skills again.

As my experience and confidence grew within the practice my role continued to change and develop. When new members of staff have joined the practice, I have been responsible for helping with their training. I have also been given more responsibility in the surgery with regards maintaining stock and other administrative roles.

2 years ago our Head Orthodontic Nurse left and my principal made the bold (!) decision to let me fill her shoes, and they were big shoes to fill! I’m now responsible for infection control, emergency drugs, stock levels and 3 wonderful orthodontic nurses.

So now I’m the Head Orthodontic Nurse at a Specialist Orthodontic Practice. Every day I love my job. Welcoming nervous, excited, petrified, determined, questioning, curious people to the practice to start their orthodontic journey. Seeing people finish their treatment after years of dedication, the joy is indescribable sometimes.