Left to right: Kirsty Richardson, Damian Bourke and Sara Calder

A Doncaster dental nurse has become one of the first in the UK to qualify as a specialist orthodontic therapist. Sara Calder, 44, from Arksey, who works at the Orthodontic Centre (OC) on Chequer Road, is one of ten graduates of the Yorkshire Orthodontic Therapy Course run by the Leeds Dental Institute. In addition, Kirsty Richardson, 25, from Bentley, who has trained hard since joining the Orthodontic Centre from school, will be one of the youngest orthodontic therapists in the UK when she qualifies from the same course next summer.

‘I wanted for so long to become an orthodontic therapist, and now I am one of the first ten in the UK – it's an awesome achievement,’ said Sara, who thrives on challenges and sees this as her biggest to date. As orthodontic therapists, Sara and Kirsty will do much of the work traditionally done by an orthodontist, including taking impressions, fitting orthodontic bands, and placing and removing brackets and wires. Orthodontic Centre founder Dr Damian Bourke is extremely proud of his protégées, commenting, ‘When we started the Orthodontic Centre at the end of the nineties, I was confident that one day we would be employing therapists to play a key role in the dental team. We are really proud of Sara and Kirsty.’