Spotlight on Talent: Maisie Morris

Maisie Morris
Advanced Apprenticeship in Dental Nursing

“Maisie has worked hard to get her qualification and has integrated into the team immediately. Her enthusiasm to work with patients and develop her communication skills became apparent following a course promoted by The Society for British Dental Nurses.”

Church Lane Dental Practice have welcomed brand new talent to their team, in the form of a Walsall College apprentice dental nurse who is now a full time staff member.  Maisie Morris, who has completed an Advanced Apprenticeship in Dental Nursing, was studying a full-time health and social care course at another college, when she came across the dental nursing vacancy on an apprenticeship website.

“I chose dentistry as a career because it is a specialised profession, and progression can be good if you want it enough. I knew university wasn’t for me, which was why I decided to do an apprenticeship.”

A year into her apprenticeship, Maisie became the student representative for the Society of British Dental Nurses (SBDN) in 2017, becoming the youngest member to join the professional membership group.

“Joining the SBDN means having the support there when needed, as well as being able to take part in extra activities linking to dentistry. I enjoy meeting other peers outside of the practice via peer groups, CPD sessions and at the Society conference.” With the support of her mentor, Maisie has dedicated extra time to develop the skills needed within her role.

“My mentor created flash cards and laminated protocols to help me, and also spent time after surgery hours going over points that I needed to look at, especially surgery work.”

The dental trainee has also been part of the Health Education England project group for Advancing Dentistry, contributing to developing the pathway in dentistry for the next 30 years. She was the only trainee Dental Care professional within the project, amongst Professors, Directors, and University Deans.

“I feel that awareness of dental nursing as a career isn’t advertised enough and encouraged at school and college. They look at general nursing, but not dentistry. How are we to get new dental nurses if students don’t know about it as a career?”

Maisie now aims to take her career further. “I’d love to become a senior dental nurse and am interested in oral surgery, as well as auditing and infection control. I would also love to become a mentor myself eventually.”

Angela Mayhew, Practice Manager at Church Lane Dental Practice, said: “Maisie has worked hard to get her qualification and has integrated into the team immediately. Her enthusiasm to work with patients and to develop her communication skills became apparent following a course promoted by The Society for British Dental Nurses. She found the whole networking and enthusiasm with other Dental Nurses inspiring, and has now joined the society as an ambassador along with the post of Student Dental Nurse Advisor.

She managed to complete her Level 3 in Dental Nurse Apprenticeship nearly in 14 months. Following her qualification, she was offered a full time position within the practice and is an extremely valuable member of the team. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, she was keen to learn all the techniques within the skills of becoming a dental nurse and often stayed late after work to have extra tuition at the practice.”