5 Dental Nurse Resume Examples & Guide for 2023

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5 Dental Nurse Resume Examples...

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INDUSTRY STATS

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nursing positions are at a 9% growth rate, which is as fast as average. With that said, there are currently 3,080,100 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 276,800 to 3,356,900 in the period of 2020-30.

What’s more, the median annual wage for the Nursing jobs was $75,330 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $53,410, and the highest 10% more than $116,230.

Our conclusion? The Nursing job market is wide open for candidates.

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Top dental nurse sections that make the best resume

  • Header
  • Professional summary
  • Experience (with numbers and results)
  • Relevant skills
  • Education
  • Certifications

How to write a dental nurse resume experience section

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Dental nurse resume's job experience checklist:
  • Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
  • Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
  • Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
  • Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
  • Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.

The work experience samples below come from real Dental Nurse resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:

Work Experience
Dental Nurse
Bravura Combo
2017-2018
  • Set up and wipe down of treatment room in accordance with infection control guidelines.
  • Run sterilisation room in accordance with current infection control guidelines including operating of ultra-sonic machine and autoclave.
  • Maintain patient comfort before, during and after treatment.
  • Stocktake and ordering to maintain adequate levels of stock.
Work Experience
Dental Nurse/Receptionist
Erudite
2015-2017
  • Managed sterilisation room, ensuring all tools and equipment were sterilised according to guidelines and that accurate records were maintained.
  • Resonsible for stock rotation and stocktake.
  • Daily cleaning of the clinic.
  • Processed end of day reports and settlement of Hicaps and Eftpos.
Work Experience
Senior Dental Nurse
Smile Dental Practice
01/2019 Present
  • Trained and mentored new dental assistants, resulting in a 20% reduction in training time and an increase in overall team productivity.
  • Implemented new patient education program, which resulted in a 25% increase in patient satisfaction scores.
  • Assisted with the implementation of new dental software, resulting in a 50% decrease in administrative errors and a 40% increase in efficiency.
  • Maintained exceptional cross-infection control standards, which was recognized by the practice receiving a 95% rating from the Care Quality Commission.
Work Experience
Dental Nurse
Bright Smiles Dental Practice
06/2016 12/2018
  • Implemented new inventory management system, resulting in a 30% decrease in supply costs.
  • Demonstrated exceptional organizational skills, ensuring that patient records were up to date and accurate.
  • Provided a warm and friendly atmosphere for patients, resulting in a 90% satisfaction rate.
  • Maintained cross-infection control standards, which was recognized by the practice receiving a 95% rating from the Care Quality Commission.
Work Experience
Lead Dental Nurse
City Smiles
2019-05 2022-02
  • Improved patient satisfaction ratings from 85% to 96% by implementing new communication strategies and streamlining appointment scheduling.
  • Reduced inventory waste by 20% by developing and implementing a new ordering and storage system.
  • Trained and supervised a team of 5 dental assistants, ensuring compliance with all safety and quality standards.
  • Assisted with clinical procedures, including patient preparation, charting, and taking radiographs.
  • Maintained accurate patient records, including treatment plans, progress notes, and consent forms.
Work Experience
Dental Nurse
Smile Bright Dental
2016-08 2019-05
  • Assisted with 20+ procedures per day, including cleanings, fillings, and extractions.
  • Implemented new sterilization procedures to comply with CQC requirements and ensure patient safety.
  • Managed patient records, including updating digital records and preparing charts for upcoming appointments.
  • Assisted with reception duties, including answering phones and scheduling appointments.
  • Maintained a clean and organized work environment, ensuring all instruments were properly sterilized and stored.
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PRO TIP

In writing your Dental Nurse resume, you will no doubt want to list your previous duties - as you should. But steer clear of just listing your duties, instead of your achievements. Make your resume stand out by communicating what you have done, and not merely what the job needed you to do.

Action verbs for your dental nurse resume

At Enhancv, we went through countless Dental Nurse resumes and uncovered which are the unique words people use to spice up their resumes. Forget about buzzwords - use these power words instead to make your experience section shine.

Dental Nurse Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters

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Resume skills section checklist:
  • Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
  • Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
  • Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
  • Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top skills for your dental nurse resume
HARD SKILLS

Excel

CPR

Bilingual

Cannulation

BSL

Scout/Scrub

Patient care

ACLS

Customer service

SOFT SKILLS

Communication

Compassion

Patience

Flexibility, adaptability, and emotional stability

Proactive, ethical, and responsible nature

Honesty

Team-player

Strong work ethic

Time management

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PRO TIP

When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.

what to write in your resume header
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Checklist for your dental nurse resume header
  • Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
  • The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
  • Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
  • Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
  • Email address
  • Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)

Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:

  • first.last@gmail.com
  • last.first@gmail.com
  • firstlast@gmail.com
  • f.last@gmail.com
  • first.l@gmail.com
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PRO TIP

Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Dental Nurse resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.

Dental nurse resume summary best practices

what to write in your resume summary
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Checklist: What to include in your dental nurse resume summary.
  • Years of experience;
  • Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
  • One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
  • Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
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Resume summary formula:
Resume Summary Formula: [Adjective] [job title] with [number] years of experience in [industry], a proven ability to [relevant, measurable skills], and a strong background in [relevant context of your work experience] seeks a position as [the job title you’re applying for].
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PRO TIP

Your summary section should act as a brief but informative introduction to your experience section. In this section you should go into more depth about what you have done, and how you did it.

Listing your education, certifications and courses

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Resume Education Section Checklist:
  • Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
  • Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
  • Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
  • Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
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Top certifications for your dental nurse resume
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Basic Science for NDEB AFK Course, INBDE, Dental Board Exams

Review microbiology, physiology and biology for board exams - NDEB AFK exam, INBDE, MFDS, hygiene, and assistant exams

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Modern Dental Extractions - Fast, Painless, & Non-invasive

The goal is less trauma and less drama! This is an update that teaches superior methods for atraumatic extractions.

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How to Start Your Dental Practice in Three Months From Now.

Even without much practical experience or financial resource. And Get Desired Patients right from Day One.

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Purpose Driven Dental Assisting

An introduction to Dentistry and Dental Assisting.

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20 lessons I learned in Dental Business Management

Experiences after 20 years in business.

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PRO TIP

If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.

How to write a dental nurse resume

There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:

The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.

Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.

Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.

Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.

Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:

To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.

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PRO TIP

If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.

Other sections to include in your resume

Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Dental Nurse resume:

Dental nurse resume: How to make yours more creative & stand out

When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Dental Nurse resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.

day of my life on resume   Enhancv resume section

What makes a great dental nurse resume: key takeaways

  • Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
  • Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
  • Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
  • Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
  • List soft skills backed by examples;
  • Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
  • Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.

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