Apprentice Dental Nurse - Ipswich Tooth Club

Location: Head Office, Ipswich, England (IP1 1BT)

Salary: £16,640 to £26,436.80, depending on age

Hours: Monday to Saturday, 8.45am - 5.45pm, 40 hours a week

Start Date: Monday, 14 December 2026

Duration: 1 year 6 months

Summary

This apprenticeship in dental nursing is an 18-month government-funded course by City & Guilds, a Level 3 Extended Diploma. You'll assist dentists, sterilise and prepare equipment, handle reception duties, and support patient experience.

Work

What you'll do at work

• Provide efficient and reliable chairside support to clinicians
• Maintain high standards of patient care, confidentiality, and GDPR compliance
• Day-to-day duties may include:
  • Welcoming patients and assisting with appointment scheduling
  • Handling basic patient enquiries
  • Preparing surgeries and sterilising instruments
  • Assisting clinicians during treatments
  • Supporting patients’ comfort, reassurance, and overall dental experience
  • Monitoring and managing stock, equipment, and surgery readiness
  • Maintaining clean, safe, and fully equipped clinical areas
  • Upholding patient privacy, dignity, and confidentiality
  • Collaborating with dentists and the wider team to deliver safe, efficient, and high-quality care

Where you'll work

50 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, IP1 1BT

Training

Training schedule

• Provided by Tempdent: Level 3 Dental Nurse Apprenticeship
• Functional Skills (if applicable)
• Flexible online delivery model
• Quarterly start dates throughout the year
• Induction and regular progress support

What you'll learn

• Relevant and appropriate dental, oral, craniofacial, and general anatomy
• Health risks of prescribed, non-prescribed, and recreational drug use
• Scientific principles underpinning the use of materials and Biomaterials
• Signs of abuse, neglect, or emotional trauma
• Normal and abnormal facial growth, physical, mental, and dental development milestones
• Assessing patients’ levels of anxiety, experience, and expectations in respect of dental care and oral health
• Contributing to special investigations and diagnostic procedures
• Orthodontic assessment
• Obtaining valid consent from patients
• Recording an accurate and contemporaneous patient history
• Recording dental charting
• Recording an oral health assessment
• Preparing records, images, equipment, and materials for clinical assessment
• Processing and managing dental radiographs and images
• Managing patient anxiety appropriately
• Supporting and reassuring patients through effective communication and behavioural techniques
• Identifying changes in the patient’s reported oral health status
• Making arrangements for follow-up care
• Providing chairside support during treatment
• Preparing, mixing, and handling dental materials
• Identifying and explaining risks within and around the clinical environment
• Implementing, performing, and managing effective decontamination and infection control procedures
• Preparing and maintaining the clinical environment
• Identifying, assessing, and managing medical emergencies
• Providing patients/carers with comprehensive, personalised preventive advice
• Supporting the management of patients with acute oral conditions
• Adopting an evidence-based approach to clinical practice
• Communicating effectively and sensitively with patients, the public, and colleagues
• Maintaining contemporaneous, complete, and accurate patient records
• Communicating with care, compassion, empathy, and respect
• Respecting the roles of dental and other healthcare professionals
• Demonstrating effective team working
• Contributing to your team in providing dental care for patients
• Managing, referring, or delegating work according to the scope of practice
• Taking a patient-centred approach to working with the dental and wider healthcare team
• Raising concerns about health, behaviour, or professional performance
• Complying with systems and processes to support safe patient care
• Acting in accordance with current best practice guidelines
• Acting in accordance with national and local clinical governance and health and safety requirements
• Acting within the legal frameworks which inform personal behaviour, the delivery of healthcare, and the protection and promotion of the health of individual patients
• Acting with integrity and ensuring your actions maintain the trust of colleagues, patients, and the public
• Demonstrating personal accountability
• Working in partnership with colleagues to develop and maintain an effective and supportive environment
• Leading, managing, and taking professional responsibility for the actions of colleagues and other members of the team involved in patient care
• Supporting patients to negotiate barriers and challenges which prevent sections of the population accessing oral healthcare
• Treating patients, members of the public, and colleagues with dignity and respect
• Supporting patients to make informed decisions about their care
• Demonstrating cultural competence
• Providing the best possible outcome for your patients
• Speaking up to protect others from harm
• Evaluating the effectiveness of evidence-based prevention at a community and population level
• Proactively addressing discriminatory language, behaviour, and microaggressions
• Evaluating the role of health promotion in terms of the changing environment, community, and individual behaviours
• Evaluating and applying the evidence base in relation to the environmental impacts of common treatment methods and approaches to the delivery of oral healthcare
• Contributing positively to the healthcare communities of which you are a part
• Evaluating an evidence base
• Utilising the receipt of effective feedback in the professional development of self
• Demonstrating personal development planning, recording of evidence, and reflective practice
• Evaluating the impact of new techniques and technologies as they relate to dental nurse practice
• Accurately assessing your own capabilities and limitations
• Recognising personal assumptions, biases, and prejudices
• Recognising the impact of contextual factors on the health care environment and patient safety
• Demonstrating own professional responsibility in the development of self
• Developing and maintaining professional knowledge and competence
• Demonstrating engagement with systems and personal strategies which promote and maintain physical and mental wellbeing
• Demonstrating appropriate continuous improvement activities
• Recognising when and how to take action if wellbeing is compromised
• Effectively managing your own time and resources
• Underpinning all patient care with a preventive approach