The importance of the nurse in the dental practice

A simple dental practice or clinic is all about the staff without whom it cannot remain functional.

Each member has a particularly important role, the receptionist or medical registrar, the manager who is in charge of welcoming patients and informing them, the nurses who facilitate the doctor’s work and provide all the necessary instruments for carrying out the treatment and the doctor or doctors who communicate and carry out the treatments.

Each member has a well-defined role and the malfunctioning of a particular sector undoubtedly influences the good therapeutic conduct as a whole.

Although the dentist is at the forefront when it comes to dental treatments, very often the nurse plays a key role in carrying them out.

The job of a nurse is a complex one and anyone who wishes to embrace this profession should bear in mind that it is not an easy job.

Because it is the nurse who maintains the link between doctor and patients and plays an important role before and after treatment, the nurse must possess a number of qualities which we will mention as follows:

• Empathy – this is the first and, in our opinion, the most important quality that a nurse must possess.

The nurse must love to dialogue with patients, be an open, sociable nature.

Her attitude must be relaxed and easy-going because patients already feel more or less stressed when they come to the dentist.

She must also know how to respond calmly to questions from patients, even when patients tend to become agitated, insistent and upset.

• Respect – work involving direct contact with people has always been and will always be difficult, so the nurse must show respect even when patients do not deserve it.

Also, even when situations tend to get easily out of hand a nurse must remain firm and respectful, but without becoming humiliated by the patient.

• A strong character – often maneuvers, especially in some specialties, can be bloody or painful, so it is good for the nurse to have a good tolerance for the sight of blood or other fluids that can normally cause nausea or even fainting.

• Attention to detail – the patient deserves the best treatment when in the dental chair, so the nurse must be attentive from start to finish.

Although the end of the program may be more difficult to achieve, it is essential that the nurse remains focused as the patient’s health comes first.

All instruments used by the dentist must be rigorously sterilized and put in place for a complete and correct dental treatment.

The nurse must show a willingness to continually train and learn new things and techniques.

There is no such thing as the perfect nurse, just as there is no such thing as the perfect doctor, the perfect patient, or the perfect person.

That is why each party must take an interest in making the work go as smoothly as possible.