How To Become A Dental Nurse: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dental nurse and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Daniela Taranto,

Carol Donohue

As a Dental Assistant, a dental nurse is essentially a healthcare worker whose main responsibility is to assist dentists. He/she helps the dentist prepare instruments, prepare and mix materials, pass the dentist the required tools, and do administrative duties such as scheduling appointments, answering phone calls, and billing. They make sure that everything runs smoothly so that both the dentist and the patient have a pleasant experience throughout the sessions.

A Dental Nurse is an integral part of the dental team since he/she is the first point of contact for clients. He/she must have good organizational skills, communication skills, good talent, and friendly. Dental nurses usually work in hospitals, community dental service centers, general practice, and the military.

A Dental Nurse's work schedule usually depends on the dentist's schedule. They mostly work in shifts, but their average workweek 40 hours a week.

What general advice would you give to a dental nurse?

Daniela Taranto

Generally dental assistants like the gratification in helping patients. In calming the anxious child, putting a smile of a lonely geriatric patient's face, listening to their family stories, gaining essentially a stranger's trust and helping them feel safe in what can be a scary environment for them. What they may dislike is some dental specialties such as oral surgery may be more graphic than others, and not everyone can withstand the occasional gore that accompanies a difficult extraction or surgery. So, knowing yourself and your own limits is important when selecting what type of practice, you may consider working in.

ScoreDental NurseUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $81,113

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.75%

Asian 10.06%

Black or African American 7.15%

Hispanic or Latino 26.33%

Unknown 4.97%

White 50.74%

Gender

female 86.42%

male 13.58%

Age - 36

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 36

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dental nurse

Explore dental nurse education requirements

Most common dental nurse degrees

Bachelor's

50.8 %

Diploma

14.8 %

High School Diploma

9.8 %

Start to develop specific dental nurse skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	44.03%
Oral Surgery	11.49%
Surgical Procedures	10.89%
Dental Procedures	6.97%
Dental Clinic	5.95%

Complete relevant dental nurse training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dental nurses learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dental nurse based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dental nurse resumes.

Research dental nurse duties and responsibilities

Help dentist to manage dental and medical emergencies by maintaining CPR certification, emergency drug and oxygen supply.
Box 106387, Riyadh 11666 KSA
Communicate appropriately and sensitively with patients who may be fearful, vulnerable, have sensitive concerns or have special needs i.e.
Educate patients on oral/dental hygiene, project office interests.

Prepare your dental nurse resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dental nurse resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dental nurse resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable dental nurse resume templates

Build a professional dental nurse resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your dental nurse resume.