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The Dental Nurse Academy is officially accredited with the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses (NEBDN), Reg number EM01251

The Dental Nurse Academy is officially accredited with the National Examining Board for Dental Nurses (NEBDN), Reg number EM01251

For both diploma and apprentice learners, once you have passed your NEBDN assessments you will be awarded with a badge and certificate, from the NEBDN. This confirms your prowess and allows you to apply to the General Dental Council (GDC) for registration as a qualified Dental Nurse.

Most diploma learners qualify in around 14–18 months, although this can be shorter or longer depending on your circumstances, as long as NEBDN rules are met. Your membership lasts up to 2 years from enrolment.

Formal training timelines (including exams and portfolio completion) are structured once your Training Start Date is confirmed.

For apprentices, the duration is set out in your apprenticeship agreement, typically up to 18 months.

Diploma students can start learning immediately, with instant access to online materials.

Formal training begins once all onboarding steps are completed and a Training Start Date is confirmed.

Apprentices start on their agreed learning start date, once eligibility checks are complete and the apprenticeship agreement is signed.

365 days per year, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

You can join at any time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Diploma students can enrol immediately and access learning materials straight away. This may initially be a pre-training phase. Formal training begins once all onboarding requirements have been completed and a Training Start Date is confirmed.

Apprentices can start their journey today, subject to eligibility checks and signing an apprenticeship agreement. The official learning start date will be set within that agreement. Applicants must be in employment (or have a confirmed start date) before applying.

Yes — you can enrol and begin studying straight away, with immediate access to learning materials.

However, to move into formal training and be entered for the NEBDN Diploma examinations, you must be in dental employment as a dental nurse or trainee.

For apprenticeships, you must already be in employment (or have a confirmed start date with a signed contract) before applying.

Joining is easy. Just click on the join button and follow the instructions. For the apprenticeship, visit the apprenticeship page for more information.

Becoming a fully qualified dental nurse is a major career step for every trainee. As such, your employer has to play their part. This involves agreeing to support you and provide the necessary mentoring, training and experience required to become a fully fledged dental nurse.  The practice will also need to provide a witness to your work (all witnesses need to be GDC registered as a dentist, nurse, hygienist or technician). Employers of apprentices must meet the apprenticeship requirements laid down by UK Government.

Yes, we take previous and current experience into account so you can just buy an individual module.

However, this will not entitle you to be registered through us with the NEBDN.

Our data shows that students who complete course material regularly perform better in the assessments. Regular engagement also avoids cramming in the immediate period leading up to the assessment, and therefore reduces stress as well.  The Course Progress Target is a good indicator of how much material you have covered in relation to your assessment target date. By ensuring you remain ahead of this target, you should be able to complete the course material in good time. Note that the course progress target relates only to lesson material and practice tests, not your PoE. Your PoE target is calculated separately.

As each learner is on an individual path regarding the course material, we will not generate alerts based on Course Progress (we do however generate alerts based on PoE progress). However the Course Progress Target is a good indicator of how much material you have covered in relation to your assessment target date so you should ensure that you remain ahead of this target. If you fall behind you may not be prepared for the assessments. NEBDN charges may apply if you need to defer or resit your assessments. 

SMS stands for Student Monitoring System. It is the DNA's online platform for recording your progress throughout the course as well as your RoE/PoE.

We will let you know when your account has been set up on SMS. Once we have confirmed this to you, a link for “SMS” will appear in the top-level navigation on your My-Account page. Please note that you need to be logged in to view SMS. Please log in using your DNA username (your email address) and password, then go to ‘My Account’ to find the SMS link. If you do not have this link, please contact [email protected].

From your SMS page, press the green "View My Progress Report” link on the left hand side.

You can easily submit your scores by visiting My-Account > SMS. Select “Lesson Tests” from the first dropdown menu, select the relevant test, enter your score and press submit.

Please contact [email protected] to correct a score or RoE/PoE item in SMS.

Please ensure you have completed all lesson tests (and submitted the scores to SMS) for the respective Module Test to become available. Once you complete all lesson tests within a module, the system will add this to your account automatically. If you have completed the Lesson tests (and submitted the scores to SMS) and still cannot see the module test option, please contact [email protected].

Please ensure you have completed all Module tests (and submitted the scores to SMS) for the Practice Exam to become available. Once you complete all module tests, the system will add the Practice Exam option to your account automatically. If you have completed the module tests (and submitted the scores to SMS) and still cannot see the practice exam option, please contact [email protected].

Tutors must have marked all of the PoE/RoE as satisfactory in accordance with the NEBDN's timings for the respective student to be able to enter the examination/assessments.

For Diploma students targeting the April Exam, the deadline is the 1st of February. For November Exam students, this is the 1st of September.  Your PoE Deadline is fixed and cannot be moved without changing your exam date. 

For Apprentices, the dates are individualised and specified in your apprenticeship agreement.

Your PoE/RoE begins when you begin formal training and are registered with the NEBDN (this is known as your RoE Start Date). The timeline ends on your PoE/RoE Deadline date, which is set based on the exam for which you are registered (or in the case of apprentices, the dates specified in your apprenticeship agreement). The amount of time elapsed since your PoE/RoE Start Date determines the percentage target you should be aiming for. For example, halfway between your PoE/RoE start date and PoE/RoE deadline, we would expect you to have completed at least 50% of your PoE/RoE.

The RoE/PoE cannot be completed in less than 12 weeks (i.e. between the date of the first and the date of the last PER), but work should be completed regularly throughout your journey. If a student submits work in bulk over a short time period (or very close to the deadline), we cannot guarantee that the timings can be met. Therefore we require that all students submit work regularly and try to stay no more than 5% behind their RoE/PoE Progress Target

For the PoE, NEBDN have stipulated that this cannot be completed in less than 6 months (i.e. between the date of the first and the date of the last entry). Again work should be completed regularly throughout the journey. If a student submits work in bulk over a short time period (or very close to the deadline), we cannot guarantee that the timings can be met. Therefore we require that all students submit work regularly and try to stay no more than 5% behind their Progress Target.

If you fall behind your PoE/RoE Progress Target, you will automatically receive an email alert. The system will check your progress again in a few weeks, giving you plenty of time to complete more of your work. If you are continually behind after several reminders, we will contact you and your employer automatically.

Learners may be removed from the course if it is deemed that engagement levels are too low. Note that in this instance no refunds will be provided of any sort.

All students progress at different speeds, and therefore targets are generated on an individual basis, The calculation is based on two dates (start date and end date), meaning that students may have different targets even if they are registered for the same exam.

Example: For a student completing their PoE/RoE over a 12 month period, the target will be greater than for a student completing their PoE/RoE over a 6 month period. However, the target will move more quickly each week for the student with the shorter timeframe.

Your Course Progress Target is based on your planned timeline towards your qualification.

For diploma learners, progress is measured against your target exam date. Your progress target increases over time, meaning that by the halfway point to your exam, you should aim to have completed around half of the lesson material and associated tests.

Formal training milestones are applied once your Training Start Date and exam date are confirmed.

For apprentices, progress targets are set in line with the schedule agreed in your apprenticeship agreement.

If you go to log in and then to forgot password, click on that to get confirmation of your details to the email address you provided. If you have not received your details within 2 hours, email your tutor or the [email protected].

No, the course will always be available to you as per your membership details. Simply pick up where you left off.

For apprentices, 'break in learning' rules may apply. Contact us for more information on this topic.

You can contact us at any time using the contact form.  (Please note that the course is open 24/7 but our team works normal office hours).  All students have access to a personal assessor once they have started formal training and registered with the NEBDN and can submit questions to their assessor for escalation as needed to the Course Director.  In addition, various phone numbers and email addresses are available depending on the question that needs a response.

Yes. The Dental Nurse Academy uses advanced video technology that automatically selects the optimum video quality for your bandwidth, and delivers the most suitable content for your connection and device. Big screen, fast broadband? Enjoy HD quality content. Streaming to your smart phone via 3G or slower internet speed? We’ve got that covered too.

You can log in from anywhere, with any device. You just need internet connectivity.

No, but you can watch them as many times as you wish on the website. There are comprehensive downloadable notes provided as well.

With our videos it is less likely to happen because clever software detects your bandwidth and provides a picture resolution that should enable your bandwidth to cope. The normal cause of erratic video viewing is that your bandwidth is insufficient to stream the video in real time. This means that your system will buffer frames until there are sufficient to play part of the video before pausing again. It is possible that there will be busy periods on the shared bandwidth line that limits the speed at which video can travel down the line and therefore inhibit your viewing. You may need to try watching at non peak times.

Our videos use clever software that detects your bandwidth and provides a picture resolution that should enable your bandwidth to cope. The normal cause of erratic video viewing is that your bandwidth is insufficient to stream the video in real time. This means that your system will buffer frames until there are sufficient to play part of the video before pausing again. It is possible that there will be busy periods on the shared bandwidth line that limits the speed at which video can travel down the line and therefore inhibit your viewing. You may need to try watching at non peak times.