Once again, the five years since the publication of the last edition of this ever‐popular textbook has seen momentous changes in the fields of dentistry and dental nursing, not least of which have been the ability of dental care professionals to become both practice owners and/or registered managers of a practice with the Care Quality Commission (in England)! Although the ‘new contract’ for NHS practices has yet to be finalised and rolled out, it is apparent that in future dental care professionals will play a greater role than ever before in the delivery of oral healthcare to patients, so exciting times indeed are ahead for the dental nursing profession.

While this edition provides the underpinning knowledge required to cover the extensive curriculum contents of the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses’ (NEBDN) National Diploma qualification, there have been numerous revisions and updates to several chapters as well as the addition of a whole new chapter covering many of the more popular ‘extended duties’ now available to qualified and registered dental nurses. Revisions include information on the new enhanced continuing professional development (eCPD) requirements, the nine principles of the General Dental Council’s Standards for the Dental Team, and information on the principles of duty of care and student professionalism. Updates have also occurred in several areas over the last five years, including health and safety, infection control and decontamination, data security and protection, oral cancer, oral health promotion, restorative dentistry and prosthodontics, and orthodontics. In addition, a new section on dental implants has been included to provide a level of background knowledge about this rapidly expanding treatment option to student dental nurses.

As always, heavy emphasis has been placed throughout on the standards expected of a student dental nurse and ultimately a dental care professional, once qualified, and these are cross‐referenced to several of the GDC’s own publications. All readers are advised to access these very useful resources at their earliest opportunity during their training, using the website addresses provided. In addition, and where appropriate, website addresses are also included to allow readers to access further information on many topics covered throughout the text, especially links to NEBDN’s full curriculum and charting booklet download facilities, and links to more information on subject topics with national variations, such as infection control.

Following previous positive feedback, the text has again been interspersed with numerous photographs and illustrations to enhance the reader’s learning experience, and bullet points have been included to highlight key facts throughout the text in an effort to aid students to focus their studies on essential knowledge in a user‐friendly manner.

Finally, and as always, I sincerely hope this text stimulates some readers to be sufficiently inspired during their studies to continue their careers beyond their initial qualification, to consider extended duties, post‐registration qualifications, other dental professional careers and, ultimately, practice ownership!

This book is designed to cover the syllabus for the British Dental Nurses and Assistants Examination. Although written primarily for nurses preparing for this examination, it also provides an outline of dental surgery for those embarking on a career of dental nursing, thus helping them gain a greater understanding of the nature and aims of their duties. For examination purposes, the subject matter is deliberately presented in a dogmatic fashion and, to aid final revision, there is a summary after each chapter.

The text was prepared during a winter spent in the North Isles of Shetland with the School Health Service mobile dental unit; and for helpful advice and encouragement throughout, I am indebted to my former dental nurse, Miss M.E. Isbister. I wish to thank my wife for typing the manuscript; my sister, Miss B. Levison, for the drawings; the Amalgamated Dental Trade Distributors Ltd for providing some new blocks; and Mr P. Saugman of Blackwell Science for his guidance.

As always, I am indebted to the lovely patients and staff of Moorland Dental Clinic for their enthusiastic co‐operation during my ‘photography clinics’ over the last five years – their excited indulgence and willing contributions know no bounds! Also huge thanks to Malcolm and his wonderful team at our local dental laboratory, ACME, for providing numerous items and photoshoot opportunities as required.