Dental Officer in paediatrics and special care dentistryNHS
Job summary
We are seeking an enthusiastic and patient-focused clinician to join Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust Dental Services as a Dental Officer on a full-time maternity cover basis. Based at Aylesham Health Centre, you will provide high-quality dental care for children and adults with additional physical, medical, behavioural, or mental health needs across a variety of community settings. The role includes delivering Tier 2 dental care, supporting patients requiring sedation or general anaesthesia, and providing treatment in clinics, prisons, mobile dental units, and patients' homes when required. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will be responsible for promoting excellent oral health outcomes, ensuring compliance with clinical governance and infection prevention standards, and contributing to service development, audit, and quality improvement activities.
Main duties of the job
o To provide tier 2 level dental care for paediatric and special care patients who have been referred into the service and remote triaging for dental patients in pain and patients on the waiting list as directed by the clinical director.
o To provide dental treatment under inhalation sedation (intravenous sedation if required by service need) and general anaesthetic
o To provide dental treatment at HMP prison sites, mobile dental units and domiciliary care as required by service need
o Involve patients in their care and treatment. Offer information, support and motivation to patients regarding oral health, diet and smoking
o To work with other healthcare professionals and stakeholders to provide a seamless care package for KCHFT dental patients
o Monitor the application of clinical governance practice including dental nurse standards, infection control and cross infection
o Participate in audits as directed by senior management or the Kent and London Quality Group (DCQG)
o Comply with Dental Practice Inspections as organised through the Area teams, and ensure delivery of all CQC outcomes for patient care
Job description
As a community Trust, many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. Where driving is a requirement of the role, you will be asked to confirm that you hold a full UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment. If you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team via [email protected], quoting the vacancy reference number, so we can support you further.
The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.
Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.
We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.
At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve.
Find out more about the community difference here.
Good luck! We cant wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.
About us
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is due to integrate with Medway Community Healthcare on 1 October 2026. Following integration and to align our community services to the new Neighbourhood Model of care delivery, there will be a period of consultation which may result in changes affecting some services, teams or roles. Depending on the area you are applying to work in, this could include potential changes to your role, work base, reporting arrangements, or terms and conditions of employment. Any changes would be subject to consultation and managed sensitively and in line with relevant employment processes. Please do contact the recruiting manager if you have any concerns about this so they can answer any questions you might have.
Rated 'Outstanding' by CQC, we deliver high-quality care that improves the health of our communities. We are looking for people who share our values:Compassionate, Aspirational, Responsive and Excellent.
We are proud to be an inclusive, welcoming organisation and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We use protected characteristic information for monitoring only and it is not seen by recruiting managers, except where applicants choose to be considered under our disability guaranteed interview scheme.
We know life outside work matters. As a flexible working-friendly organisation, we welcome conversations about arrangements that help you thrive while supporting excellent care for our patients.