Senior Dental Officer

NHS; Wellingborough; On-site; GBP 81,000 - 96,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional health service provider is seeking an experienced Senior Dental Officer for a unique opportunity in Northampton. The role involves delivering comprehensive dental care primarily for patients with special needs, including home visits and care under sedation. Successful candidates will have a BDS and at least two years of NHS experience. The position offers competitive pay and a collaborative working environment focused on patient-centered care.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Supportive work environment

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of NHS experience required.
• GDC number essential for the role.
• Satisfactory completion of Vocational Training or equivalent required.

Responsibilities

• Deliver clinical dental care for patients unable to access General Dental Services.
• Complete home visits for patients requiring domiciliary care.
• Deliver dental care under conscious sedation and general anaesthetic.

Skills

Communication skills

Management of anxious patients

Special Care experience

GA experience

NHS experience

Education

BDS

Vocational Training Completion

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Powerpoint

Job description

Go back Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

Senior Dental Officer

The closing date is 14 October 2025

This is a unique opportunity, for an experienced dentist with special care experience and post graduate certification/training to work as a Senior Dental Officer within our specialist service, which will be mainly based at St James Clinic in Northampton but with a requirement of travelling to other bases as is needed. You will have a complex and diverse caseload of patients and will be expected to deliver comprehensive and holistic, service user focused care within this Special care service setting.

You will also be expected as part of this role to deliver dental care under conscious sedation and under challenging circumstances where access to care can be difficult for our patients, and be able to be flexible, and dynamic in your clinical approach to overcoming barriers to treatment for these patients. Enhanced and effective communication skills are essential as this role is primarily working with patients who have additional needs, some of whom will have communication barriers and engaging social care professionals on a range of issues relating to oral health is integral to care delivery.

An additional part of this role is to complete home visits for some of our patients who are unable to access the clinic with nursing support, and to deliver dental care under general anaesthetic to those patients who require this additional level of sedation, with the support of the Theatre Team.

Working days/hours of work would be 30 hours across the week - days are negotiable

Main duties of the job

This role will involve delivery of clinical dental care for patients who are unable to access General Dental Services for a variety of reasons.

The Special Care arm of our service delivers care for patients who have a significant medical condition (physical or mental) or a disability which:

• Prevents the communication of pain and /or giving consent for treatment +/-
• Prevents acceptance of dental care or treatment to achieve dental health +/-
• Prevents access to the dental surgery and transfer into the dental chair for treatment +/-
• Presents a high risk of bleeding, infection, impaired healing, adverse reaction or a medical emergency following the delivery of dental care

The Paediatric arm of the service also provides dental care for patients under the age of 16 requiring treatment under conscious sedation or general anaesthetic due to anxiety or high caries rate.

The service delivers care across 3 towns; Northampton, Wellingborough and Corby. We also offer domiciliary care across Northamptonshirewith services supported bySenior Dental Nurses, Qualified Dental Nurses and Extended Duties Dental Nurses, Oral Health Promotion Specialist, Senior Leadership, Service PA's and countywide administrative team.

About us

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be 'outstanding' by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.

Job responsibilities

Interview Date: TBC

The range of duties and responsibilities outlined above are indicative only and are intended to give an overview of the range and type of duties that will be allocated. They are subject to modification in the light of changing service demands and the development requirements of the post-holder.

Employees of the Trust must comply with the provisions of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). The postholder must not; either during the course of their employment, or following termination of their employment, disclose any personal information relating to service users or employees, or of the lawful business practices, of the organisation.

The postholder must comply with Trust policies that protect the personal data of service users and employees from unauthorised disclosure, modification, destruction, inappropriate access or use and must pay due regard to the requirements of the NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice.

Health & Safety Compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 - the post-holder is required to fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their actions. This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards, and a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 applies to all Trust staff. It is the responsibility of every person to ensure that they keep up to date with the Act and that the delivery of patient care/services is conducted in line with local and national policy and the MCA Code of Practice.

The Trust has a responsibility to ensure that all children / young people and adults are adequately safeguarded and protected. Consequently, all Trust employees are required to adhere to national and local safeguarding policies / procedures and to act upon any concerns in accordance with them.

Infection Control - It is Trust policy to reduce the risk of Healthcare Associated Infection by having in place Infection Prevention and Control Policies. These policies must be adhered to by all staff to ensure patients are cared for in a clean environment and receive the highest standards of clinical care.

Equality and Diversity - It is the responsibility of every person to act in ways that support equality and diversity and work within the spirit and detail of legislation including the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998.

The Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer and aims to challenge discrimination, promote equality and respect human rights.

Smoke Free NHS - The NHS is Smoke - Free. Smoking is not permitted on any of our premises or the surrounding land including car parking facilities.

Please note that should we receive a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the advert earlier than advertised.

For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the About You Section of the document.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

• BDS
• NHS experience - min 2 years
• GDC number
• Satisfactory completion of Vocational Training or Vocational Training Equivalence.
• Standard keyboard skills and ability to communicate through IT using packages such as Word, Outlook, Excel and Powerpoint.
• GA experience
• Special Care experience
• Experience of providing care for patients with additional needs
• Skilled in the management of anxious patients
• PILS / ILS trained and up to date

Knowledge and Experience

• Provide a wide range of primary dental care for patients including children, people with disabilities, older people and those referred to the Service
• Formulate and provide person centered and comprehensive dental care in primary care and under NHS rules and regulations
• To provide dental care in the domiciliary setting for patients who are housebound, supported by qualified nursing support and dedicated domiciliary equipment.
• To supervise and support dental care professionals, engage in clinical supervision.
• To assist with and participate in training and education and support dental care professionals working towards postgraduate qualifications
• Participate in peer review sessions and demonstrate a commitment to continuing dental education.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

£81,716 to £95,579 a yearNHS Medical & Dental: Salaried Dentist - B