Luke Arnold, Director of Recruitment Services at Dental Elite, considers how modern technology has changed the landscape of dental recruitment.

The rise of digital technology has had a profound effect on professional life in recent years, particularly the hiring process, which has undergone a myriad of changes to meet the demands of modern day recruitment. By effectively using the most up to date technologies available, employers are better placed to find the ‘ideal’ candidate, and employees are more likely to find a job that suits their clinical skills and personal preferences. As for agencies like Dental Elite that specialise in recruitment, there can be no doubt that technology has revolutionised the recruiting game – here’s how.

Networking and access
Before the advent of professional networking sites like Linkedin and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, specialist recruiters relied heavily on their network of contacts and market knowledge to find a shortlist of suitable candidates. While this is still the case today, online platforms have opened the door to a whole new world of potential candidates, making it easier to discover both existing and emerging talent that may have otherwise remained unknown. At the click of a button, recruiters and employers alike can now sift through a pool of candidates quickly by accessing their profiles. Professionals can also be contacted directly through messenger applications and by phone, meaning a wide variety of potential candidates can be reached – including passive applicants, which as we know make up a large proportion of the talent pool.

For candidates, Linkedin can act as a ‘shop front’, allowing them to demonstrate their career, achievements and skills and to promote themselves to a wide range of potential employers. As such, this feature is ideal for all dental professionals, whether they’re open to the idea of a new career or not. That’s the beauty of professional networking sites – you never know when an opportunity might come knocking.

Broadcasting vacancies
Between online job sites and networking/social platforms, it is now much easier to advertise vacant positions and hiring intentions, and in a much richer way too thanks to the use of multimedia. Indeed, unlike traditional media that focuses purely on the job role, modern advertising can incorporate mediums such as vox pops or videos of staff and the workplace to tell the story of an organisation. When you consider that dentistry is currently experiencing difficulties in recruiting across certain parts of the UK – particularly rural areas – and there’s stiff competition to find top-level candidates, employers must do all they can to sell themselves. Job sites and other online platforms are essential in this, and will continue to be crucial in reaching out to candidates for years to come.

The only drawback to the introduction of these broadcasting platforms is that for some active applicants, having access to that amount of information can sometimes make it harder to narrow down the job search – that’s where Dental Elite can help.

Flexible candidate engagement
In addition to social and professional networking platforms, technological tools such as Skype and Facetime are becoming increasingly more useful for recruiters during the initial stages of the interview process. For obvious reasons, being able to screen a potential candidate ‘face to face’ without having to actually meet in person can be extremely time efficient, and is far more insightful than having a phone conversation. This can be particularly helpful in the beginning when trying to whittle down candidates to a short list and for feeding back information to the client. Practices are, after all, also interested in demeanour and personality not just clinical skills.

The other plus point to modern technology is that recruiters are now able to access a greater level of data and emails on the move and at home. This not only affords greater flexibility for recruitment agencies, but also provides a more convenient service to candidates who may prefer to communicate outside of normal office hours.

Nowhere to hide
The downside of technology, of course, is that employers are able to access far more personal information about applicants than was possible before. As their findings could influence their final decision it’s important to maintain a professional online presence at all times – even on personal accounts on sites like Facebook.

Looking ahead
We’ve already seen tremendous change in the way recruitment services are delivered and applicants find new jobs; the question is, what’s the next step for dentistry? In some sectors recruiters have developed virtual reality assessments to select candidates based on an individual’s reactions and behaviours in realistic scenarios. It could be that virtual reality, or perhaps some other technological innovation that has not yet been invented, may play an important role in dental recruitment in the future. Whatever it may be, candidates and employers should endeavour to keep abreast of technological changes and remember that along with their experience, skills and network, recruiters can help by maximising technology for optimal results.

For more information on Dental Elite visit www.dentalelite.co.uk, email info@dentalelite.co.uk or call 01788 545 900

The majority of people visit the dentist because they wish to look after and retain their natural teeth. This may be because they want to be able to eat easily and comfortably, to not be in pain, for their self-esteem and to look good.

There are also many reasons why people do not visit the dentist. These include dental anxiety, the cost of the treatment, and attributes of the interaction between the patient and the dentist. For example, in the Adult Dental Health Survey, 19% of adults aged over 16 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland stated that they had delayed their treatment due to the cost, while 36% reported the reason to be moderate dental anxiety and 12% reported having extreme dental anxiety in relation to having a tooth drilled and/or a local anaesthetic injection[1].

However, for people who have a physical disability, it can be the case that they do want to visit the dentist but they are prevented due to factors that limit their access to the surgery (e.g. transport problems that cause missed appointments) or limit their treatment (e.g. discomfort when lying in the dental chair or pain when opening the mouth)[2]. For example, one study found that people who use a wheelchair do highly value oral health in terms of their smile aesthetics, but they reported severe difficulty in obtaining dental services, such as not being able to find an accessible clinic in the first place and coming across obstacles and cluttered spaces in the dental environment that make it awkward to manoeuvre[3].

According to the UK government’s official statistics, there are over 11 million people with a disability, impairment or limiting long-term illness, and the most commonly reported impairments are those that affect mobility, lifting or carrying[4]. Furthermore, disabled people are entitled to equal access to oral healthcare services and oral healthcare outcomes in terms of self-esteem, appearance, social interaction, function and comfort. The Equality Act 2010 that protects people from discrimination states that service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers experienced by people who have a disability[5].

However, equal access does not currently appear to be happening[6]. Research indicates that disabled people have poorer oral health and there are barriers to using dental services; for instance, difficulty attending a dental appointment can arise from problems with physical entry to the premises (e.g. stairs)[7]. Their poorer oral health can be caused by their impairment (such as reduced manual dexterity or coordination in people with physical and neurological conditions that affects their brushing technique) and/or the side effects of medication (such as medicines that contain sugar or those that cause dry mouth)[8].

In a survey of English dental practices, 137 of 157 practices reported treating people who use a wheelchair but less than one third said that their practice was fully accessible (i.e. on the ground floor without steps or on the first floor with a lift, having sufficient door width and circulation space and with accessible toilets)[9]. A study that interviewed people who use a wheelchair consistently found that they experienced difficulties obtaining dental services due to problems with circulating inside the building and moving onto the dental chair. In addition, they stated that they preferred to stay in their wheelchair during the treatment [10].

So, what can be done in the dental practice to ensure that everyone has an equal ability to have to treatment? Physical access can be improved by, for example, providing designated parking spaces close to the practice, installing handrails and having ramps for wheelchairs. Regarding inside the practice, one solution is to install digital imaging equipment that enables a person to remain in their wheelchair during the imaging process.

One product that solves this issue is the CS 8100 panoramic system from industry-leading Carestream Dental. The CS 8100 unit’s height can be adjusted vertically so that it is suitable for patients who are standing or sitting, including for a person in a wheelchair. The CS 8100 fits easily into tight spaces and it makes the positioning of patients quick and simple. It is part of Carestream Dental’s CS 8100 family that was awarded the Dental Advisor’s ‘Top Panoramic Imaging System of 2014’, with a 99% rating and an Excellent Five Plus designation.

According to the World Health Organization, it is the responsibility of society to improve the access of people with different needs by removing the social and physical barriers to care so that there is obtainable, affordable and high-quality dental care for all[11]. One way in which you can contribute to this is by using equipment that is suitable for patients who use a wheelchair.

For more information please contact Carestream Dental on

0800 169 9692 or visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk

For all the latest news and updates, follow us on Twitter @CarestreamDentl and Facebook

[1] Nuttall N, Freeman R, Beavan-Seymour C, Hill K. Access and barriers to care–a report from the Adult Dental Health Survey 2009. The Health and Social Care Information Centre; 2011.

[2] Rashid-Kandvani F, Nicolau B, Bedos C. Access to dental services for people using a wheelchair. A J Public Health 2015;105:2312-7.

[3] Rashid-Kandvani F, Nicolau B, Bedos C. Access to dental services for people using a wheelchair. A J Public Health 2015;105:2312-7.

[4] Office for Disability Issues and Department of Work and Pensions. Disability facts and figures 2014. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures [Accessed November 2017].

[5] Equality and Human Rights Commission. What is the Equality Act? https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act-2010/what-equality-act [Accessed November 2017].

[6] Dougall A, Fiske J. Access to special care dentistry, part 1. BDJ 2008;204:605-16.

[7] Arnold C, Brookes V, Griffiths J, Maddock S, Theophilou S. Guidelines for oral health care for people with a physical disability. British Society for Disability and Oral Health. http://www.bsdh.org/documents/physical.pdf [Accessed November 2017].

[8] Dougall A, Fiske J. Access to special care dentistry, part 4: education. BDJ 2008;205:119-30.

[9] Edwards DM, Merry AJ. Disability part 2: access to dental services for disabled people. A questionnaire survey of dental practices in Merseyside. BDJ 2002;193:253-5.

[10] Rashid-Kandvani F, Nicolau B, Bedos C. Access to dental services for people using a wheelchair. A J Public Health 2015;105:2312-7.

[11] Rashid-Kandvani F, Nicolau B, Bedos C. Access to dental services for people using a wheelchair. A J Public Health 2015;105:2312-7.

The British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT) is delighted to launch this year’s First Smiles campaign, which will be held on Friday 15^th June 2018.

First Smiles is about raising awareness of the importance of good dental health from a young age. It provides an opportunity to focus on getting those all-important messages out to the local community, encouraging the dental team to engage with children, their parents, carers and teachers and demonstrate how oral health could impact on their general well being even from the early years.

The campaign aims to:

• Build essential relationships between nurseries, schools and their local dental practices

• Educate children and those who care for them about the fundamental aspects of good dental health

• Improve the oral hygiene habits of children across the UK

• Make children feel more comfortable about visiting a dental practice

• Integrate oral hygiene within health education in schools

• Tackle the worrying rise in tooth decay and extractions among children in the UK

What can you do?

It’s easy to get involved with the initiative this year. To get started, download our ‘Introduction to First Smiles’ from the website for more information or read the FAQs page to clarify any queries you might have.

Next, identify a local nursery, school or youth centre that you could visit or collaborative with in order to meet and teach young people about the benefits of dental health. There are templates for letters to send to such organisations available on the BSDHT website, which you might find useful at this stage.

Then you’ll need to organise a presentation or lesson of some kind. Subjects you might like to cover could include toothbrushing techniques, with demonstrations on models and practise sessions with a class. You could share information on why teeth and gums are so important for general health and what they are for. Particularly topical at the moment is the impact of sugar, so you could use this time to discuss the dangers of too much sugar and suggest what foods and drinks should only be enjoyed on special occasions.

Here’s what professionals did last year to give you some more ideas:

“One session I did was to a lovely group of 2- and 3-year-old children at Countryside Day Nursery in Gloucestershire, aiming to teach them how to brush their teeth and gums. I took along with me Dan the Dinosaur, masks, mirrors, gloves and mouth mirrors – the children loved helping to clean Dan’s dirty teeth! I also wanted them to see what visiting the dentist is like, so everyone had a chance to try on gloves and masks, and hold a mouth mirror to look at their teeth and those of their friends.” – Joanne Martin

“The First Smiles day was super and we all had a great time. The kids dressed up in gloves and masks, we talked about looking after our teeth, visiting the dentist and sugars in food. To make it interactive the kids put foods on a good/bad board with a superhero theme, then we counted how much sugar was in the food and put it into bags so they could see it visually. I will definitely do it again. I think it is such a good idea and really important. As a society, I think the more we can educate parents and teachers too, the better – after all, it’s not the 5-year-olds who pack their lunchboxes!” – Kate Paddock

“I found the dental buddy app very useful and easy to use on the teacher’s smart board. The children seemed to like the interaction. I also took in various different foods and drinks to do a ‘good food, bad food’ quiz. This was very interesting for both the children and teachers! I took some leaflets from my practice with a reminder of how to look after teeth for the children and a picture to colour in.” – Clare Pearson

“I had a discussion with my children’s nursery and they wanted me to attend. I was very excited as I had never done anything like this before and it went surprisingly well. I have now been asked to do this on an annual basis by the nursery, which of course, I am happy to do. The nursery also run parent workshops and I have been asked to do a talk at their next event in regards to oral health, where I will be stressing the importance of recent newspaper articles on the need for dental check ups for babies and toddlers.” – Maria Fernandez

Additional support for participants

In addition to the materials available on the website, the BSDHT is thrilled to be offering some free products for the dental team to take with them and give out to the children they see. Oral-B has kindly donated toothbrushes and toothpastes for professionals to give out, while Brushlink has offered some devices available on a first-come, first-serve basis to aid oral hygiene instruction. For more information, please contact the BSDHT.

Here’s to another successful First Smiles!

For more information about the BSDHT and First Smiles, please visit www.bsdht.org.uk, call 01788 575050 or email enquiries@bsdht.org.uk

We all experience professional dissatisfaction at one point or another – it’s human nature, but once the ratio has shifted to feeling jaded more often than not, it’s very hard to find a way back. It’s at this point that people tend to start looking for a new position, or in desperate circumstances hand in their resignation without having a job to go to. Gone are the days where employees would stay in one role for a large proportion of their professional career. Instead, the average tenure is just 4.6 years – even less for workers aged between 25 and 34 –[i] and it’s largely down to job dissatisfaction.

This growing discontent has become particularly apparent in dentistry, with a study by the BDA showing that dentists are almost twice as likely as the general population to feel dissatisfied with life. While there are additional elements that play a role in this, the report found a strong association between levels of job morale and satisfaction and how practitioners rate their personal well-being.[ii]

Of course NHS England’s decision of a 1 per cent pay rise for dentists for 2017/18 hasn’t helped matters, and key associations have dubbed the news as ‘a devastating blow’. It’s no secret that feeling underpaid and overworked breeds disaffection, and it’s only going to get worse as austerity continues and pay increases elude NHS dentistry.

Saying that, it’s not always about money; an individual can become disillusioned for a number of reasons. A hostile work environment or bad relationship with a boss is one common source of work dissatisfaction that quite often leads to resignation. Indeed, there’s so much choice out there now that employees no longer have to grin and bear it.

Of equal impact are relationships with co-workers. A friendly face or workplace friend can make all the difference to job satisfaction, not least because healthy relationships help with motivation and morale. A team that works together well also helps to create a more fulfilling and enjoyable work environment, one that staff actually look forward to being in everyday, rather than dreading. All it takes is one person to upset the balance for the workplace to become unpleasant, leading to isolation, loneliness and negativity, and there simply isn’t room for conflict in dentistry – especially as the delivery of patient care is a team effort.

Both these issues can be avoided through team building, regular staff meetings and frequent reviews, which all help to highlight and address any issues in the practice. Dealing with poor management on the other hand isn’t as easy, but steps can be taken to minimise this risk. Carrying out research on the practice or company before an interview, for instance, can help to identify any potential concerns about the workplace environment, as can speaking to colleagues. Indeed, word of mouth is a powerful tool in finding out information. While opinion should always be taken objectively, there’s value in drawing on another individual’s experience – be it good or bad.

There’s also the matter of autonomy and independence. No one likes to be micromanaged or have someone breathing down their neck, especially in an already pressurised environment like dentistry. Where controlling management and lack of flexibility are issues, staff are much more likely to become dissatisfied very quickly, forcing them to reconsider their place within the practice.

As for training and career progression, the opportunity to take on a challenge and learn new skills should never be underestimated when it comes to workplace satisfaction. Where this isn’t an option, a job can become boring very quickly – after all, what’s the point in staying in a position where there is no room for growth or development? The journey to becoming a dental professional is too long to waste by staying stagnated in one role. There has to be development and promotional opportunities – or at the very least, a chance to take a new course or gain additional qualifications. This is certainly the case at Rodericks Dental, where training is provided to all staff. A range of internal and external courses as well as CPD modules are available throughout the year alongside advice from the supportive management team to ensure that all career aspirations are met across the board.

Discontent can arise as the result of a number of shortcomings, but as long as you stay true to your goals and find an employer that suits your professional needs you are sure to find job satisfaction.

For more information please visit www.rodericksdental.co.uk/careers email opportunity@rodericksdental.co.uk or call 01604 602491 (option 1) and ask for Christina Regan in our Dental Recruitment Team.

Twitter @rodericksdental and LinkedIn

[i] Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employee Tenure Summary. Published 22 September 2016. Accessed online 26 September 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm

[ii] British Dental Association: Is there a Well-being Gap among UK Dentists. Results from the 2014 Dentists’ Well-being and Working Conditions surveys. February 2015. Accessed online 26 September 2017 at https://bda.org/dentists/policy-campaigns/research/workforce-finance/gp/Documents/Dentists’%20well-being%20%20report.pdf#search=job%2520satisfaction

About author: Meet the Directors: Alpesh Khetia

“Recruiting hardworking, ethical team players ensures our patients receive the best clinical care possible.”

Alpesh completed his vocational training in 2000 with the Weston Favell Group of Dental Practices (now known as Rodericks Ltd).

He continued his work within Rodericks Ltd as an associate and became a director in 2002. Alpesh is involved in the recruitment of new dentists, hygienists, therapists and ensuring their wellbeing whilst the company continues to grow.

He became a Foundation Trainer in 2008 and obtained a certificate in Medical Education in 2012.

He also leads a dedicated team that aim to ensure all practices are UDA target compliant.

Alpesh is integral in the business aspects of the company and is involved with sourcing future practice acquisitions, marketing activities and opportunities in expanding the company.