A new and innovative partnership between North Western Deanery, The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and Colgate has produced a programme for registered dental nurses to study part-time towards a ‘Certificate in Oral Health and Application of Fluoride Varnish'.

The aim of the university course is to prepare registered dental nurses to deliver evidence-based oral health advice and apply fluoride varnish.

The launch of the programme was recently held at Chandos House, owned by the Royal Society of Medicine, in central London.

Dr Barry Cockcroft, chief dental officer for England, opened the proceedings by saying: ‘The toolkit “Delivering Better Oral Health” [published by the Department of Health in 2007] underpins the role of the whole dental team in preventing dental disease and moves the focus away from treatment of existing disease to positively improving oral health.

‘Modern high-quality dentistry provides a wide range of opportunities for all trained dental care professionals to take an active part in supporting patients to achieve healthy functioning mouths. The launch of this collaborative approach to the training of dental nurses to apply fluoride varnish through the Certificate in Oral Health and Application of Fluoride Varnish is very welcome, and provides an excellent model to support the preventive dental team.'

Eileen Martin, pro vice-chancellor and dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Care at UCLan, said: ‘This programme is the result of true collaborative working. The support of our partners has meant a programme of exceptional quality has been developed. This new development for our state-of-the-art School of Dentistry will have national appeal, meeting the learning needs of dental professionals and enabling us to serve the broader dental community. It provides an exciting opportunity for dental nurses to step into higher education.'

Donna Hough, dental workforce development lead for DCPs and North Western Postgraduate Dental Deanery, said: ‘There are a number of reasons why registered dental nurses are the ideal choice to train to provide oral health advice and apply fluoride varnish. Extended duties dental nurses will enhance the skill mix within the dental team by the giving of advice and application of fluoride varnish to the teeth of both children and adults in community and surgery settings. This training will also serve as a career development opportunity that will contribute to enhanced job satisfaction and ultimately increased retention of these experienced and trained individuals within the field of dentistry. I have enjoyed the collaborative approach which has been used to refine this original concept, to produce what I believe to be a useful and useable portable training programme with a robust quality assured framework.'

Michael Sload, vice president and general manager of Colgate-Palmolive (UK) Ltd, said: ‘Colgate is dedicated to promoting oral health. It aims to cultivate close partnerships with the dental profession, international experts and academic institutions. We seek to provide the most innovative products, based on up-to-date scientific research, to meet the evolving needs of dental professionals and their patients. This new and exciting partnership, and resulting training programme for dental nurses, further underpins Colgate's commitment to supporting effective prevention as the cornerstone of modern primary dental care.'

The course is available to registered dental nurses in current employment with the support of their employer. For further information within Cumbria and Lancashire, contact UCLan on 01772 892400. For all other areas, please contact the Portable Training Team on
0161 665 5886.