The Roles of Your Dental Team

There are many members of your dental team who each have their own important roles and duties to ensure you receive the best possible dental care. Working together within the dental practice, as well as across other healthcare and dental teams, such as ENT specialists and laboratory technicians, ensures your treatment is as swift and effective as possible.

In this post I look forward to describing in more detail the wide range of dental care professionals who are working together each time you attend Oaklands Dental Care!

Dentists

Your dentist will assess and diagnose any dental issues you might be having, and prescribe the appropriate treatment or advise/arrange a referral to solve them. They will often be your first port of call, discussing and planning your treatment options with you during your check-up or assessment, and will likely be the one to carry it out as their scope of practice includes fillings, extractions, root canal treatments, scaling/polishing, fitting and taking impressions for fixed and removable dental prosthetics and much more.

Dental Therapists

Under the prescription of a dentist, the dental therapist is able to complete fillings, scaling/polishing, and can extract baby teeth. Additionally, they are able to educate and offer advice on improving your oral health, such as guidance on effective teeth cleaning techniques, and quitting smoking.

Dental Hygienists

Dental hygienists focus largely on improving oral health practice by preventing and treating periodontal disease through scaling and polishing teeth, and offering further guidance and direction on how you can best accomplish this.

Dental Nurses

The dental nurse will prepare and maintain the clinical environment and instruments used by other dental care professionals for them to complete your treatment with clean, sterile equipment, in a clean, sterile environment, and will also assist the dentist in carrying out this treatment.

Dental Technicians

Dental technicians are dental care professionals who make dental devices to the prescription of a dentist or clinical dental technician. They make the dentures, crowns, bridges, and braces that a dentist or orthodontist, or in some cases they themselves, will fit.

administrative staff

The receptionists and practice managers, and sometimes dental nurses, are responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the dentists’ diaries and are on hand at the end of the phone to offer advice and organise appointments for you.

More about the roles of DCPs are covered in the GDC’s Scope of Practice.