I qualified as a dental nurse in 1996 with this very centre that I am now lucky enough to own and run with my husband. I loved nursing but my dream was always to be the person carrying out the treatment and giving advice to patients, I didn’t want to be a dentist but dental hygiene really appealed to me. I eventually got a place at Bristol Dental University and went on to qualify as a hygienist in 2004.

I began work at Pinhoe Dental Centre as a hygienist as soon as I qualified. Peter Howard-Williams the previous owner of Pinhoe Dental Centre and the training centre, encouraged me to teach all the oral health aspects of the syllabus to the trainee dental nurses. I was very nervous because in 2006 there would be 30+ trainee dental nurses on each course and the lectures were held in a tiered lecture theatre.

I now tutor the topical fluoride course, internally moderate the OHE, Diploma and Radiography course as well as look after the administration for the centre.

We love this business, mostly because there is no better reward than to get to know your students and to help nurture them through a course to see them pass and go on to achieve what they set out to do. I am always as nervous as my students on their exam day and equally as elated as them when they pass.

I have been a dental nurse since 2011 and gained my Diploma in Dental Nursing in 2013.

I have always been keen to learn so I went on to gain my Certificate in Radiography in 2014 and Certificate in Oral Health Education in 2016. All 3 of these qualifications were completed through Dental Nurse Training that I am now tutoring for.

After really enjoying all of the courses I trained in I decided I wanted to become a tutor, I studied for the Award in Further Education & Training in 2017 and was awarded my certificate for this.

Once I had my teaching certificate my main interest was in educating trainee dental nurses, I was lucky enough to join the training centre straight away to tutor on the diploma course alongside a long standing tutor.

Since January 2020 I have become the primary diploma tutor. I am enjoying this role very much, since I started work for dental nurse training in 2017 I am happy to say I have a 100% pass rate. I take pride in teaching and it’s a great sense of achievement when you get all of your students through a difficult course like the diploma in dental nursing. I give students and the practices they work for my full support throughout the course and I feel this reflects in the centres pass rate.

I also really enjoy still practicing as a dental nurse two days a week in a busy NHS/Private mixed general dental practice, I like assisting for all treatments and find the variety helps to keep me enthusiastic.

In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my husband and young son. I also enjoy reading and socialising with friends.

I qualified as a dental nurse in 2010 with the NEBDN. I have always been interested in furthering my career as much as possible so I quickly went on to study and qualify in the NEBDN’s Certificate in Oral health Education in 2013 with Erica as my tutor and the Certificate in Dental Radiography in 2014. I have also completed the topical fluoride application course.

I worked as an oral health educator in general dental practice for 3 years. I enjoyed using my skills to educate patients on how to keep their mouths healthy and also applied topical fluoride to children who had a high risk of developing dental decay. It was a large 7 surgery mixed NHS/Private practice so I had a wide variety of patients that I saw and had to advise on topics such as caries, periodontal disease, denture care and adapting advice for patients that had specific individual needs.

In 2017 I became practice manager and I carried out a mix of OHE sessions alongside the management role. I have managed to learn many additional skills within the dental sector to add to my overall knowledge of dentistry and how to care for the dental team as a whole.

I enjoyed educating patients through the OHE visits I provided and as I worked in a practice that trained dental nurses it made me realise that I would like to expand my abilities to teaching within the profession.

In 2015, I gained the Award in Education and Training which allowed me to begin teaching. I took over the OHE course from Erica in 2016 and I have been teaching it ever since. So far I have 100% pass rate for the OHE course and I work hard to support my students to maintain this percentage for the future.

In 2020 I left general dental practice to work at a Dental School assisting trainee dental students.

My name is Angela Lee. I have been a qualified dental nurse since 1999 and I gained my radiography qualification in 2015.

I have always had a passion to learn and to pass my knowledge onto others so I decided to move away from general dental practice in 2014. I joined Peninsula dental school as a dental nurse assisting the undergraduate dental and hygiene therapy students. I enjoy this role and find it rewarding helping the students and see them improve in confidence.

I then became acting radiation protection supervisor RPS until I was formally assessed and given the title of the facilities Radiation Safety Lead for Exeter in 2018.

Becoming the Radiation Safety Lead has given me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills both practically and with the safety aspects of dental radiography. It was at that time I realised that I would like to teach in this area, I feel I can make a difficult and often boring part of dentistry easier and more fun to understand. I managed to find a course for teaching that would fit around my home life and I completed my level 3 award in education and teaching in February 2021

Outside of work I love spending time with my husband Simon and daughter Ruby. We love to travel whether it be a trip to Disneyworld in Florida or camping in Dorset. We have a dog called Molly and two tortoises called Chewbacca and Harry.