A brand new oral health practitioner apprenticeship has seen its first cohort receive their qualifications.
This first-of-its-kind programme was designed to support the recruitment and retention crisis in dental nursing, and to free up time and resources.
In addition, the qualification is connected to the new NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which aims train thousands more dentists and doctors and invest in prevention. This is because of the apprenticeship’s emphasis on the links between systemic disease and oral health.
The seven oral health practitioner apprentices are now fully qualified to deliver care and treatment to patients alongside dentists in practice. They are officially the first recipients of the Royal Society of Public Health Diploma for oral health practitioners.
As well as this, the programme allows the apprentices to progress further and become dental hygienists and therapists.
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‘A better trained workforce’
The apprenticeship was delivered by the Workforce Training and Education Directorate of NHS England. As well as this, there are two other apprenticeships which are also designed to support recruitment and retention in the dental nursing workforce: a dental practice manager apprenticeship and an orthodontic therapist apprenticeship.
Michael Wheeler is dental workforce advisor at NHS England and course director. He said: ‘For dental practice owners and salaried dental services, it provides a better trained workforce to embrace flexible commissioning at a local level especially in delivering oral health education and promotion.
‘The oral health practitioner apprenticeship will allow individuals to further progress to become dental hygienists and dental therapists, for which an apprenticeship route is currently being explored by NHS England and the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
‘This apprenticeship is designed to support widening participation into dental hygienist and dental therapist training and contribute to the ambition to increase training places by up to 40% by 2031-32 which is set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.’
Apprenticeship breakdown
The oral health practitioner apprenticeship focuses on the following areas:
- An understanding of common medical conditions and how they can impact on oral health and wellbeing
- Head and neck anatomy, physiology, the prevention of dental caries and periodontal disease
- Diet, nutrition, hydration, and their links with systemic and oral health
- An understanding of differing patient group needs across the life course
- The management of patients with learning disabilities, dementia and mental health conditions
- The theories that underpin models of learning in individuals and groups to change behaviour
- Theories and concepts of motivational interviewing
- Supporting behaviour change with individuals and with groups.
As well as this, the apprentices acquired the following skills:
- Performing intraoral skills in taking plaque scores, impression taking, intraoral scanning, application of topical fluoride, intra and extra oral photography
- Carrying out brief clinical preventive advice interventions and targeted group interventions
- Provide both oral and general systemic health advice such as smoking cessation
- Able to provide behaviour change advice and support to individuals and groups across the life course with different cognitive abilities
- Provide motivational interviews
- Undertake standard NHS health checks for diabetes and blood pressure.
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