From dental nurse to Area Manager: how Riverdale helped me build a career in operations

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By Kathryn Henderson, Area Manager at Riverdale Healthcare

Summary

After starting her dental career as a dental nurse, Kathryn Henderson moved into retail management, HR and operations before returning to dentistry through a career at Bupa. After she moved to Riverdale Healthcare, she was able to bring those experiences together as an Area Manager, supporting 16 practices across the North East while helping other people explore careers in dentistry and develop their own paths forward.

My career started in dentistry before taking a different direction

I started my career in dentistry in 1995 and qualified as a dental nurse in 1997.

I worked in a dental hospital until around 2005, after I had my daughter. At that point, the hours were difficult to balance with family life, so I decided to move away from dentistry for a while.

That took me into retail, where I joined B&Q in one of their larger stores. I started in kitchen sales, but over time moved into different management roles, including checkout management, profit protection and HR.

At the time, it felt like a completely different direction. Looking back, it was one of the most important parts of my career.

Explore current career opportunities at Riverdale and see where a dental career could take you.

Retail helped me build the management skills I use every day

Dentistry gave me the clinical background, but retail helped me understand the operational side of running a business.

In retail, I learned a lot about:

  • Managing teams
  • Working towards targets
  • Understanding profit and loss
  • Dealing with HR issues
  • Supporting people through difficult conversations
  • Keeping standards consistent across a busy environment

I also completed a Level 5 CIPD HR management qualification, which gave me a stronger foundation in people management.

That experience helped me understand where my strengths were. I realised I enjoyed compliance, HR, operations and working closely with people to solve problems.

When my children were older, I started thinking about returning to dentistry. I still liked the clinical world, but I also knew I wanted to stay in management. For me, the next step was about bringing those two sides of my experience together.

Read more: How I’m working towards my dental nurse qualification while planning my own aesthetics business

Riverdale Healthcare saw how my different skills could fit into a bigger role

Before joining Riverdale, I returned to dentistry as a Practice Manager at Bupa. That role helped everything come together. I was back in a dental environment, but I was also using the management, HR and operational skills I had built outside dentistry.

After a couple of years, I felt ready for the next step. I was hitting my KPIs, including NHS targets and revenue targets, but there wasn’t really a clear route for further progression. I had heard there were development opportunities at Riverdale, so I applied for a Practice Manager role to get my foot in the door.

During the recruitment process, Riverdale Healthcare looked at my CV and recognised that my wider experience could fit a different role. Before I even started, I was offered a Regional Support Manager position instead.

That made a big difference to me. It showed that Riverdale Healthcare was willing to look at the skills I had built across my whole career and how those could be applied to practice support – not just the job title I had applied for.

Since then, my role has continued to develop. I started by supporting eight practices, then moved into an Operations Lead role, and now work as an Area Manager supporting 16 practices across the Newcastle and Gateshead area.

Read more: From hands-on learner to Clinical Lead: how Riverdale is helping me build a career in dentistry

As an Area Manager, I support practices by understanding how they actually work

My role now covers a wide range of operational responsibilities across 16 dental practices.

That includes:

  • Supporting 12 Practice Managers
  • Helping practices deliver their NHS contracts
  • Monitoring private revenue and plan performance
  • Managing compliance
  • Making sure equipment issues are resolved quickly
  • Supporting teams with operational or HR challenges
  • Working closely with clinical leads and senior leadership

A big part of the role is making sure practices are delivering their NHS contracts. Each contract has a set number of UDAs, which are units of dental activity. If a practice does not deliver the required number, there can be financial consequences, so it is important that we monitor performance and support teams where needed.

Some practices are mainly NHS, some are private, and some are a mix of both. Each site has different priorities, different pressures and different teams, so you cannot manage them all in exactly the same way.

That is why I spend a lot of time out in our practices. I work from home for admin one or two days a week, but most of my time is spent visiting sites and speaking directly with Practice Managers, clinicians and team members.

You cannot support a practice properly from a distance. You need to understand the people, the contract, the building, the patients and the day-to-day challenges.

Because I started as a dental nurse, I understand what it feels like to work in practice. Because I have worked in retail management and HR, I also understand how to look at performance, people and operations together.

That combination is what helps me do my role.

Riverdale Healthcare gives people access to support at every level

One of the biggest differences I have found at Riverdale Healthcare is how accessible people are.

In previous roles, it could sometimes be difficult to get hold of the right person. At Riverdale, people are approachable at every level.

I work closely with my line manager, Paula Graham, who is Chief Operating Officer, as well as with Neeraj Diddee, Regional Clinical Director. Neeraj still works clinically as a dentist, which is really valuable because he understands what is happening in practice from a clinical point of view.

My role is operational, but clinical and operational decisions often overlap. If there is something I cannot answer, or something that needs a clinical view, I can involve Neeraj and work through it properly.

That access makes a real difference. It means decisions are more joined up, and it means people feel supported rather than isolated. It is also something I try to pass on in my own role. I want my Practice Managers and teams to know they can come to me, ask questions and get support when they need it.

I want to keep helping driven people move forward

I love seeing others have the same career development opportunities I have. At Riverdale Healthcare, progression does not have to follow one fixed route – dentists have access to training through Riverdale Academy, but there are also huge opportunities to grow in operational roles.

I have seen people join with no dentistry experience and move forward because they are driven, capable and willing to learn. One person I recruited as a receptionist had worked in healthcare, but not dentistry. She progressed into a Practice Manager role and is now deputising for me while she learns more about becoming an Area Manager.

That is the kind of progression Riverdale can support. My own next step is still developing, but longer term I would like to move into a more senior operational role, supporting Area Managers and helping shape how practices are supported across a wider region.

Explore careers at Riverdale

Riverdale has given me the opportunity to combine my dental background with the management, HR and operational skills I developed elsewhere.

Whether you already work in dentistry, are returning after time away, or have built skills in another sector, there may be more opportunities than you realise.

Explore current career opportunities at Riverdale and see where a dental career could take you.

 

Jack Dowling

From hands-on learner to Clinical Lead: how Riverdale is helping me build a career in dentistry

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By Jack Dowling, Clinical Lead and Associate Dentist at Alpha Dental Gosforth, Riverdale Healthcare

Summary

After joining Riverdale Healthcare in 2021, Jack Dowling has progressed into a Clinical Lead by developing his skills through hands-on experience in practice, supported by direct access to senior clinicians and targeted training through the Riverdale Academy – and is now working towards supporting other dentists who learn in the same practical way.

I’ve always learned quickest through practical, hands-on work

I’m Jack Dowling, Clinical Lead and Associate Dentist at Alpha Dental Gosforth, part of Riverdale Healthcare.

Throughout my training and my career as a dentist, I have always found that I developed my skills much better through practical experience, rather than through lectures or exam revision. That really became clear once I finished my formal dental training and started treating patients day to day. Working through real cases and deciding how to approach a challenge, which materials to use, or how to manage a more complex treatment plan, helped my skills develop much quicker.

Being able to see how those decisions played out over time – the progress of a restoration, whether a patient responded well to treatment, and what I would do differently next time – is what built my confidence. For me, that hands-on exposure isn’t just what made things click – it’s what made them stick.

In this article, I want to talk about my journey from early-stage training into a Clinical Lead role, and how the environment at Riverdale – particularly the support from the clinical team and the Riverdale Academy – is helping me continue to develop and work towards supporting other dentists in the same way.

Working as both an Associate Dentist and Clinical Lead means I’m developing my own skills while learning how to support others

At Alpha Dental Gosforth, my role combines general dentistry with a Clinical Lead position, which means I am involved in cases beyond just my own patient list.

On a typical day in my life at Riverdale, that might include:

  • Reviewing a colleague’s treatment plan before they start a case
  • Advising on which materials or techniques are likely to be most predictable
  • Stepping into the surgery to guide part of a procedure, particularly where it’s new to them
  • Treating my own patient list
  • Liaising with the management team

That gives me exposure to a wider range of cases and decision-making than I would see working independently.

The key difference is that I’m not just observing – I’m actively involved in helping other clinicians work through those decisions. That’s where a lot of the development comes from.

It’s helping me build two skillsets at the same time:

  • How to break down and explain clinical decisions clearly to someone else
  • How to stay sharp in my own work by constantly reviewing what works, what doesn’t, and why

In short, my career as a dentist at Riverdale is allowing me to support other dentists in a practical, chairside way while continuing to develop my own clinical skills – keeping the day-to-day varied while building towards my longer-term goal of moving into education.

I’ve been able to focus on the work I enjoy most

At Riverdale, I’ve been able to continue developing in areas I’m particularly interested in – especially restorative dentistry, alongside orthodontic and aesthetic treatments.

That’s important to me, because it’s the type of work I find most rewarding.

A lot of the cases I enjoy involve seeing patients over a longer period of time. A typical journey might include:

  • Stabilising oral health and addressing immediate issues
  • Building consistency with hygiene and maintenance
  • Moving into aesthetic improvements like whitening or alignment

What stands out is the shift in mindset. Patients go from coming in with problems to asking about improvements they’ve always wanted but never thought were possible.

I have a personal interest in dental photography, and being able to show patients where they started compared to where they are now makes that progress very clear. Seeing that transformation – both in their oral health and their confidence – is a big part of why I’ve chosen to focus on this area.

Being able to develop in that direction, while also taking on more responsibility in the practice, is what has made my progression at Riverdale feel both structured and personally rewarding.

Riverdale’s leadership is directly involved in my development

The hands-on experience I get day to day is backed up by structured training through the Riverdale Academy.

That has included:

  • Postgraduate training in restorative dentistry and endodontics
  • Courses through Riverdale on photography, dentures, endodontics, composites, leadership and teamwork, and communications
  • Ongoing development in orthodontics, including an upcoming fixed braces course outside of Riverdale but recommended by their orthodontic leads

The key difference is that this training isn’t separate from practice – it builds directly on the types of cases I’m already seeing.

A big part of that is being able to speak directly with people like Neeraj Diddee, Clinical Director, as well as Guy Wells and Ben Wild in the clinical leadership team. In a network of over 60 practices, having that level of direct access to senior clinicians is rare – and it means I can get clear, practical guidance on what the right next step looks like.

That combination of practical experience and targeted development has already opened up further opportunities, including working in a referral practice, and is shaping what I want to do longer term.

Looking ahead, I’m interested in moving into mentorship

I’ve completed some of the training towards becoming an educational supervisor, and while it doesn’t fully align with my current role, I’d still love to find opportunities to mentor younger clinicians within Riverdale.

A lot of my own development has come from:

  • Learning chairside through real cases
  • Building confidence through repetition
  • Improving by reflecting on outcomes

Not everyone develops best in a classroom, and some clinicians progress much faster once they’re in practice. Being able to support dentists like that – the ones who learn by doing, as I did – is exactly what I want to build towards.

Explore careers at Riverdale

Riverdale has allowed me to develop quickly through hands-on experience, while also having access to the right support and training to move forward.

Whether you want to focus on clinical progression, skill development or education, there is a clear path forward.

Explore current career opportunities at Riverdale and see where a dental career could take you.

 

How I’m working towards my dental nurse qualification while planning my own aesthetics business

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By Isabella Isaac-Griffiths, apprentice dental nurse at Stafford Dental Surgery, Riverdale Healthcare

Summary

After starting a beauty business as a teenager, Isabella Isaac-Griffiths is now working towards her dental nurse qualification at Stafford Dental Surgery while building the skills and experience she hopes will one day support her own aesthetics business.

Training as a dental nurse has opened up opportunities I never expected

When I finished my A-levels with three As, I thought my next step would be university. My original plan was to study law, but before committing I decided to spend some time working and exploring different options.

That decision led me somewhere unexpected – an apprentice dental nurse role through TempDent at Stafford Dental Surgery, part of Riverdale Healthcare. At the time, I didn’t know much about dentistry or what a dental career could look like.

Once I started, I quickly realised how much responsibility the role involves and how many different skills it requires. A typical day can include:

  • Assisting dentists during procedures
  • Preparing surgeries and equipment
  • Sterilising instruments
  • Updating patient records
  • Managing stock and supplies

Alongside the practical work, I’m studying towards my dental nurse qualification through Riverdale’s clinical training courses, which involves one day of learning each week while working full time in the practice.

Being part of a close-knit team and working directly with patients has made the role far more rewarding than I expected. It has also helped me see how many different directions a dental career can take.

Just as importantly, working in the practice has given me opportunities to develop skills I hadn’t expected to use in a clinical environment.

Explore current career opportunities at Riverdale and see where a dental career could take you.

The practice helped me develop business skills alongside my clinical training

A few months after joining the practice, I mentioned to our practice manager, Mel, that I was comfortable using social media. She asked if I’d like to take over the practice’s TikTok account.

At the time the account had very little activity, so I began experimenting with different types of content. Social media can be unpredictable, but relatable posts tend to perform well. One video ended up reaching more than 1.4 million views.

The opportunity also drew on experience I had built earlier. While studying for my GCSEs and A-levels, I ran a small beauty business offering eyelash and eyebrow treatments. Managing that business meant handling:

  • Social media promotion
  • Client bookings and appointments
  • Customer communication
  • Payments and basic business admin

Without realising it at the time, those early experiences helped me understand how online platforms work and how to connect with an audience – skills that have turned out to be surprisingly useful during my life at Riverdale while training as a dental nurse and contributing to the practice’s marketing.

Working in dentistry showed me how much dental nurse career progression is possible

The longer I’ve worked in dentistry, the more I’ve realised how many opportunities exist within a dental career.

One of the things that surprised me most is the range of dental nurse career progression available once you qualify. Dental nurses can develop their careers in treatment areas such as:

  • Orthodontics
  • Radiography
  • Oral health education
  • Practice management

Seeing those pathways has helped me understand how flexible a dental career can be and how many different directions it can lead.

Dental nursing is helping me build the foundation for my future aesthetics business

My own long-term ambition is slightly different from the routes many dental nurses take. I’d like to move into facial aesthetics and eventually run my own aesthetics business.

Working as a dental nurse at Riverdale is helping me build the right foundation for that goal. Every day I’m developing clinical knowledge, learning more about facial anatomy, and gaining experience working directly with patients.

At the same time, the business and marketing skills I developed earlier are helping me understand how to attract and build relationships with clients.

Together, those experiences are starting to come together in a way I never expected when I first applied for the role.

Is dental nursing a good career for you?

Working in dentistry wasn’t part of my original plan – but from my experience so far, it’s a great option for people who enjoy:

  • Working with people
  • Learning practical skills
  • Being part of a supportive team

At Riverdale, I’ve been able to start building a dental career, gain real experience and work towards my dental nurse qualification while working at Stafford Dental Surgery.

For me, it’s been the perfect place to start building the future I want – and whether you’re thinking about dental nursing or exploring other vacancies, Riverdale offers a wide range of opportunities to learn new skills and grow your career.

Explore careers at Riverdale

Explore current career opportunities at Riverdale and see where a dental career could take you.