‘I was attacked by a patient' is quite a headline. Hayley Cokayne has taken the brave step of sharing details of the assault she experienced - by a patient, while she was a final year dental therapy student - with BDJ Team. Thank you to Hayley for your honest account and for offering advice to other dental professionals. Through writing down and reflecting on her experience, Hayley hopes to ‘encourage clinicians to reflect on their individual and personal safety and potentially make changes to their current way of working'.

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Despite the fallout from Hayley's attack, she has managed to rebuild her confidence and refine her skills and is now using her full scope of practice as a dental therapist.

NHS dentistry is of course in the doldrums right now, but as usual, this issue of BDJ Team aims to offer an eclectic mix of positive stories and clinical content in relation to dentistry.

We introduce five fresh faces who have joined BDJ Team's reader panel, poised and ready to write exciting new content and help decide what goes into future issues, alongside current members.

First out of the starting blocks is dental nurse and tutor Stephanie, who writes about her CQC role and how she became a registered manager. This is an excellent option for a dental nurse wishing to progress or gain expertise in a particular area.

We hear from senior dental nurse, Julie, about working as a sedation and general anaesthesia trained dental nurse. Julie has worked in special care dentistry for 32 years and thrives on ‘getting to know people, gaining their trust and providing them with the confidence to have their treatment completed'.

Meanwhile dental nurse Louise Skelt shares her career story and tells us why she is fundraising to travel to Uganda with Dentaid.

There is hardly space here to mention our thought-provoking cover story from Rebecca Silver, on ‘perfection paralysis' in relation to social media; and part 6 of our neurodiversity in dentistry series (with CPD). Do read on and let us know if you have a story to share as well.

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Kate Quinlan

Editor

k.quinlan@nature.com