Staff and students of the National Diploma in Dental Nursing delivered by Plymouth University are celebrating the news that all of this year’s graduating students have passed the course – a 100% success rate achieved for the third year in a row.
The two-year course provides both theoretical and practical experience, preparing each individual to become a qualified healthcare professional able to register with the General Dental Council (GDC) as a dental nurse.
Investment in Dental Education Facilities (DEF) across the South West, where dental students treat NHS patients under the supervision of clinical supervisors, means that both dental and dental nursing students benefit from meaningful exposure to patients – providing valuable experience in a controlled clinical environment – as part of their studies.
This year’s successful dental nursing students will remain in their training contract until March next year. They are currently registering with the GDC and will continue to work with Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry until they find employment.
Erika Jones, lecturer in Dental Nursing at Plymouth University, said: 'We are delighted that our students have achieved a 100% pass rate for the third year in a row, and our congratulations go to them. We are fortunate in that we can train our dental nursing students alongside the University’s dental students in purpose-designed clinical dental education facilities. We believe that this helps us to nurture professional, clinically competent dental nurses who have a better grasp of the dynamic of the dental treatment team and who are eminently employable and able to rise to the challenges of the dental nursing profession.”
Professor Christopher Tredwin, head of the School of Dentistry at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, added: 'I cannot emphasise enough the importance of the mutual training experience shared by our dental and dental nursing students. The future of clinical dental professionalism rests on effective working within the dental treatment team and I have every confidence in our ability to deliver newly-qualified professionals equipped for that ethos.'
