The topic of dental nurse salaries and status has come up many times during the time I have edited Vital and then BDJ Team. A lot of dental nurses continue to feel disgruntled about their lot: having to qualify, register, pay their ARF, pay for CPD, pay for indemnity and pay for further training if they want to expand their skills – perhaps working part time and juggling parenthood at the same time - and all for not a great chance of a decent salary. Despite this ongoing feeling of discontent, not a lot of progress seems to have been made towards change or progress. Is this actually the case? Could it be because of the number of apprentices willing to work as trainee dental nurses for a pittance? Do the dental nurse organisations – including the new one we introduce in this issue – see a positive future for the dental nurse profession? What about the BDA and dental nurse educators? We asked them and their comments and views are included in an investigative feature in this issue.

What is definitely a massive positive for dental nurses is that most of you appear, on the whole, to love what you do and the culture of working in a dental practice. Dental nursing is also a great stepping stone to other careers in dentistry, including orthodontic therapy. An original article in this issue looks at the origins of the role of orthodontic therapist. In complement to this, a feature from the BOS links orthodontic treatment to good oral health.

If you're looking for core CPD, essential reading this October is our update on the latest decontamination guidance. Once you've had a good read, pop over to the new CPD hub to answer the multiple choice questions. The new hub is proving to be a big hit with BDJ Team readers. https://cpd.bda.org/login/index.php

This is a bumper issue and there's even more in store in November. Make sure you don't miss out, sign up for the BDJ Team e-alert – just one email a month with the latest published content.