Dental Nurse CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a dental nurse with about seven years of chairside work who moved from a busy mixed NHS practice to a group practice with an in-house oral surgeon. The name and practices are made up. Copy the structure, then put in your own patient numbers, procedures and qualifications.

Dental practices hire fast because a missing nurse means a slower diary tomorrow. Most managers we hear from scan for the same short list before deciding whether to call.

• Are you GDC registered, or a trainee on an approved course? No practice can let you work as a qualified dental nurse without registration. Write your status and the year, and add any radiography qualification next to it.
• Patient numbers and surgery count. "18 to 24 patients a day across 6 surgeries" tells them whether you can keep up with their diary. "Assisted the dentist" does not.
• Which procedures you have supported. Restorative, crown and bridge, endodontics, extractions and oral surgery, implants, paediatrics, orthodontics, sedation. Practices hire for their mix.
• Practice software. Software of Excellence (Exact), Dentally, R4 or Pearl, plus your imaging system (Dexis, Carestream, Planmeca). A software match means less training time.
• Decontamination discipline. Instrument reprocessing, autoclave cycles and the daily and weekly test logs. Say your compliance record, because it is what a CQC inspector or compliance audit looks at first.
• Turnaround speed and reliability. Surgery turnaround time, attendance, Saturday or evening availability. Practices run on the diary and a slow nurse costs money every hour.

“I look for radiography credentials, then the software, then how many patients a day they were used to. If someone has run a six-surgery decontamination room without a failed autoclave test, I already know what kind of dental nurse they are.”

Dental nursing is regulated across the UK by the General Dental Council (GDC), and this is where most CVs go wrong. To work as a dental nurse you must be on the GDC register, or be enrolled on a GDC-approved qualification and working as a trainee under supervision. Say exactly what you hold, and check the GDC's Scope of Practice before you claim a duty.

• GDC registration. Write "GDC registered dental nurse since 2021"; the number is public on the online register, so you can give it on request. Registration is renewed every year and needs indemnity cover and continuing professional development (for dental nurses, at least 50 hours over each five-year cycle).
• Your qualification. The NEBDN National Diploma in Dental Nursing or a Level 3 Diploma in Dental Nursing (often taken as an apprenticeship), or a GDC-approved foundation degree or other approved course. Write the full title, the awarding body and the year.
• Radiography. A dental nurse can take radiographs only on a prescription and after extra training; the NEBDN Certificate in Dental Radiography is the best-known route. Write exactly what you hold, for example "NEBDN Certificate in Dental Radiography, 2024", and mention IR(ME)R training.
• Post-registration certificates. NEBDN also offers certificates in areas such as oral health education, dental sedation nursing, orthodontic dental nursing and special care dental nursing. Write the full name and year rather than an abbreviation.
• Additional skills. The GDC Scope of Practice lists skills a dental nurse can add with training, such as applying fluoride varnish on prescription, taking impressions on prescription, intraoral photography and removing sutures. Only claim what you are trained and competent to do; fissure sealants and placing fillings belong to hygienists, therapists and dentists.
• Medical emergencies and basic life support. Practices train the whole team at least once a year, following Resuscitation Council UK guidance. List it as current, with the year.
• In the US the same job is called a dental assistant and is regulated state by state (DANB credentials, state radiography permits). If you qualified outside the UK, the GDC has to assess your qualification and register you before you can work as a dental nurse here.

Three or four lines under your name. Lead with your registration and years, then patient numbers and procedure mix, then software and languages. Use a career objective only if you are applying for a trainee post.

The dental nurse job description is the same everywhere, so copying it tells a practice nothing. Take each duty, attach a count and name the equipment.

Split these into what you do with your hands, the equipment and software you use, and how you work with patients. Only list additional skills you are trained and competent in under the GDC Scope of Practice.

• Clinical: four-handed dentistry, high-volume aspiration and moisture control, tray set-up by procedure, alginate and digital impressions on prescription, bite registration, shade taking, pouring study models, fluoride varnish on prescription, suture removal once the dentist has checked the wound, oral surgery support, rubber dam preparation.
• Radiography and imaging (with training, on prescription): bitewings, periapicals, panoramic, cephalometric, support for cone beam CT, sensor and phosphor plate systems, intraoral cameras and photography, iTero or other intraoral scanners.
• Infection control: decontamination workflow under HTM 01-05 (or the equivalent guidance in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), washer-disinfector and ultrasonic cleaning, autoclave operation and test logs, surface barriers, sharps and inoculation injury procedures, waterline management.
• Software and admin: Software of Excellence (Exact), Dentally, R4, Pearl, Dexis, Carestream, Dolphin for orthodontics, treatment plan entry, NHS charge bands and FP17 claims, Denplan and payment plan sign-ups, recall booking.
• Patient skills that practices actually name: settling anxious patients, tell-show-do with children, explaining post-operative care, supporting patients with additional needs, and a second language if you have one.

This is one of the most searched versions of the question, and the UK answer is good news: most dental nurses start as trainees. A practice employs you, and you study for a GDC-approved qualification (the NEBDN National Diploma or a Level 3 Diploma, often as an apprenticeship) while you work. The CV has one job to do: show you are reliable, good with people and ready to learn clinical routines.

1. 1If you are already on a course, put the course and any placement on the CV like a job. Give the practice size, the number of surgeries, how many patients a day you saw and the procedures you supported. "Trainee placement in a 4-surgery general practice, 20 patients a day" is real experience.
2. 2List what you have covered in specifics, not just a course title: infection control, dental anatomy, dental materials, chairside support, radiography theory, medical emergencies.
3. 3Lead with anything a practice values on day one: first aid, a Care Certificate or health and social care course, GCSEs in English and maths, and proof of hepatitis B vaccination if you have it. Having these in place moves you up the pile.
4. 4Convert any healthcare or customer-facing job. Healthcare assistant, pharmacy assistant, veterinary care assistant, carer, childcare, or even retail and hospitality all show patient contact, hygiene routines or volume. Give numbers.
5. 5Say when you can work. Practices need cover for early mornings, evenings and Saturdays, and availability often decides between two similar candidates.
6. 6Use a career objective here rather than a personal statement, and make it specific to the type of practice you are applying to (NHS, private, orthodontic, oral surgery, community dental service).
7. 7Keep it to one page and put your qualifications block near the top.

• One page, two at most. Practices are small and the reader is a practice manager between patients. Two pages only if you have ten years plus additional skills, post-registration certificates and lead nurse work.
• Registration on the contact line: "GDC registered" (number on request), radiography qualification, medical emergencies training current. It saves the manager a phone call.
• No photo, no date of birth, no marital status on a UK CV. A US practice would call the same document a resume.
• Single column, plain fonts, PDF. Larger dental groups run applications through an applicant tracking system, and columns and graphics parse badly. NHS hospital and community dental service posts go through NHS Jobs and are paid on Agenda for Change bands (qualified dental nurses usually start at Band 4).
• Mirror the advert's words: chairside, four-handed, surgery, decontamination, HTM 01-05, radiographs, recall, NHS and private, and the practice management software by name.
• Say your availability for evenings and Saturdays if you have it, and how far you can travel between practices if the employer is a multi-site group.
• Have two references from clinical settings ready, ideally a dentist or lead dental nurse. Dental hiring runs heavily on phone references.