Our Dental Nurse Hero for June is…

Introducing June’s Dental Nurse Hero, Gillian Armstrong from {my}dentist Heaton Smile in Newcastle upon Tyne!

Gillian was nominated for her dedication to the Dental Nurse role and her exemplary levels of patient care.

Gillian initially started with {my}dentist as a cleaner, balancing work with being a single mum. However, after being made redundant, Gillian had the opportunity to study Dental Nursing at College (with full support of her practice colleagues) and loved the idea of becoming a nurse one day.

Her nomination states: “Gillian is an asset to the whole team, when she joined us in May 2019, from another {my}dentist practice, the whole team just fell together perfectly. Everyone started to show teamwork and work together.

“Gillian always goes that extra mile with every patient that enters the building, she continuously remembers patients by name to ask about their loved ones and what they have been up to. Since she has been with {my}dentist for many years Gillian is a well-known part of the team, patients love her that much they have even followed her from the previous practice.”

A patient’s journey is the most important part of the job, according to Gillian, who states they are the centre of everything and will do anything to improve their experience in practice, feeling rewarded when she has made someone’s experience great. “There are many patients that love to come for a catch up and I really enjoy building the rapport to find out about what they have been up to since their last appointment. I always try to remember patients’ names; I think this personal touch helps builds rapport massively so myself and the patient gets the most out of the experience.”

Gillian has also been commended for her work with nervous patients and her mentoring of Student Dental Nurses, supporting them however she can. She believes in not only supporting nervous patients during their appointment but helping bust the myths that can increase dental anxiety to ease the patients concerns for future appointments.

“I am very lucky as I do have a great team, they are mostly upbeat and encourage each other a lot. The best thing that has kept us all motivated has been each other, we have all helped one another through the pandemic by supporting each other. I never thought I do anything out of the ordinary and just do what is expected of me, thank you for this opportunity. I am just really overwhelmed that I have even been nominated for the Dental Nurse Hero award!”

We are so proud of Gillian and incredibly grateful for her hard work. Congratulations on being one of our #DentalNurseHeroes and thank you for all that you do.