Reg. no 4837
Reg. date 28 March 1995
Qualifications: CEB Dip Dent Hygiene 1995
Titles: Dental Hygienist





Nicky Smith is from Newbury and is married with two young children.

Nicky has been with us for 8 years and has become a firm favorite with our patients, who appreciate her very gentle touch and professionalism.
She works with us part-time, delivering a critical part of the service our patients require to keep their teeth and gums healthy and to provide preventive care and advise, including a tailored program of home care and dietary advice.

As a Dental Hygienist, Nicky is registered with the the General Dental Council (GDC), as a Dental Care Professional. She is responsible for keeping a log of her life-long training achievements (Continuing Professional Development) and for her professional conduct.
We expect Nicky will continue with her education with us, further expanding her duties in line with GDC's Scope of Practice which will permit her a much wider range of duties once she has been trained and shown her competency.

Future developments

The GDC say " additional skills a Dental Hygienist might develop during their career include

1. Tooth whitening to the prescription of a dentist,
2. Prescribing radiographs (deciding a dental x-ray is needed)
3. Administering inhalational sedation (Happy air) and
4. Removing sutures (stitches) after the wound has been checked by a dentist.

Nicky can already take dental x-ray images and impressions for sports mouth guards, study models and tooth whitening treatment.  At present she does also work with anxious patients, under light "Happy air" sedation, when needed, requiring Richard Charon to administer the sedation, monitor their progress and recover them afterwards. Once the GDC have put in place a training and competency program, Nicky will be able to undertake this without the need for the dentist to be present in the room.

Nicky says

"I have worked for Richard Charon for 9 years as a Dental Hygienist. I work in the practice for 1 1/2 days a week. I also work in a couple of other practices out of Newbury. In the 14 years that I have been qualified I have worked in several different practices and working for Richard is definately at the top of the list"

There are various reasons for it being such a good place to work. Firstly Richard is a perfectionist with his dentistry and this makes my job much more rewarding, as our patients gum health has the potential to be excellent, as it is a team approach to our patients care. I enjoy working as a team, with Richard's practice, I have trainee dental nurse Kate or qualified dental nurse Gosia  to help me with all of my work, which makes a visit to the hygienist a 'pleasant' experience. The practice also offers every aspect of dentistry to our patients, from routine examinations to much more complex dentistry eg. implants, Invisalign orthodontics and all this makes my job much more rewarding and interesting.