According to an annual report from Nurse.com, 64 per cent of general nurses in the US have experienced verbal abuse in the workplace. The British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN) says this is also a UK problem, with its survey showing similar levels of abuse.

In August 2024, the British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN) conducted an online survey of UK dental nurses, asking them whether they had experienced workplace abuse in the last five years.

Of those that took part, 98 per cent of respondents were registered dental nurses and two per cent were student dental nurses.

The survey found that 61 per cent of respondents had been verbally abused by a colleague or by a patient in the workplace during the last five years. Furthermore, nine per cent had been physically abused or assaulted by a colleague and eight per cent by a patient.

The survey showed that 37 per cent of respondents who had experienced abuse were working in mixed general dental practice when the abuse took place, followed by private general dental practice (22 per cent) and NHS general dental practice (21 per cent).

Comments from the survey

According to the BADN, most of the abuse by colleagues is bullying. Respondents frequently mentioned the NHS’ “toxic culture”, “toxic work environment”, and lack of support from managers who failed to take action when notified of abuse (or even when witnessing it).

The association said that managers of dental departments in general hospitals are often non-dental, general nurses who do not recognise that dental nurses are registered professionals.

In general practice, many dental nurses cite dentists who are “condescending and deliberately difficult” or “have a superiority complex”, dentists with “gigantic egos” or who are “very demanding” and who has “no respect for dental nurses”, no “true concept of the actualities of dental nursing”, no “regard for my in-depth knowledge” and “unreasonable expectations” of their dental nurses.

BADN plans to launch a more in-depth and structured survey in 2025.

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