The National Examining Board for Dental Nurses (NEBDN) is celebrating its 80th anniversary this October at a Lancashire venue, to mark a special milestone achievement. The black-tie celebration evening will consist of a presentation and awards ceremony, dinner, and dancing. Staff, trustees, associates and stakeholders who will come together to celebrate 80 years of success, with a reflection on how the business started to where it is now.

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NEBDN's roots stretch back over 80 years to 1936 when Philip Grundy, a visionary dental practitioner, imagined creating a recognised qualification to regulate the profession nationwide. Having founded the British Dental Nurses' and Assistants' Society (which later became ABDSA and then BADN), with the assistance of his dental nurse Madeleine (Bunty) Winters in 1940, Philip Grundy founded the British Dental Nurses' & Assistants' Examining Board in 1943, which set about creating educationally balanced written and oral examinations which could be replicated and regulated across the UK.

The first dental nursing examination was held in 1943 with 179 learners sitting and has been repeated every year (with the exception of 1947 and 1948). Back in 1943 the fee was one guinea, and a £10 prize was given for the highest mark. Bunty Winters obtained the highest mark, but was denied the prize because she was Philip Grundy's dental nurse! These days the number of learners far exceeds 5,000 every year and exams are now held online.

The widely recognised badge was first introduced in 1951. 1964 saw the name change to the Examining Board for Dental Surgery Assistants and 1987 to the National Examining Board for Dental Surgery Assistants upon its separation from the Association, which had run the Examining Board since the beginning. In 1995, following the Association's decision to reclaim the title 'dental nurse' as opposed to 'dental surgery assistant' and change its name to the British Association of Dental Nurses, the Examining Board also changed its name to the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses (NEBDN).

NEBDN became a fully incorporated charity and a company limited by guarantee in 2005. NEBDN today operates as an Ofqual regulated organisation in Preston, Lancashire, alongside a variety of accredited providers across the UK. NEBDN's next step is to offer an NEBDN Apprenticeship in Dental Nursing.

Also see: 'An exciting change for NEBDN' https://www.nature.com/articles/s41407-023-1779-4.