ONG Aims

To act on behalf of all orthodontic Dental Nurses and Orthodontic Therapists to advance high standards by developing and expanding their roles under ‘Dental Care Professionals’.

ONG was founded in 1994 and became an affiliated organisation of the British Orthodontic Society in 1997.

ONG Objectives

  • To develop the Orthodontic Dental Nurses and Therapist roles within the Specialist Group.

  • To provide continuing professional education via study days, webinars and the British Orthodontic Conference

  • To keep the membership informed by means of e-journals, our website, and social media pages

  • To recommend to the GDC changes needed in legislation and workforce development plans

  • To liaise with relevant professional bodies to promote the status of:

    • Orthodontic Dental Nurses and Therapists.
    • To manage the Group’s finances to achieve its objectives.
    • To keep members up to date and plan for the future.

What does the group provide?

  • Regular study events to include the DCP programme at the British Orthodontic Conference and at least one webinar a year to provide verifiable CPD

  • Regular members e-journal to provide information and articles of interest

  • A website with public-facing pages and a private members section

  • Help and Guidance in the specialist field of Orthodontics for its members

  • Online ProDental CPD Courses with the membership

  • Group badge to identify membership of the Group

  • Work with suppliers to identify benefits for members

What is the function of the committee?

  • Meet the aims of the Group

  • Provide for the needs of the members

  • Promote the Group within the dental profession

  • Keep in touch with members

  • Manage the finances of the Group to achieve its aims and functions

Who is on the committee?

The committee comprises of ten personnel all registered with the ONG.

The Committee Officers are: President, Chair, Administrative Secretary, Finance Officer, Web and Social Media Officer and nurse and therapists representatives.

Committee Members

Sally DyeChair
Sally qualified as an orthodontic therapist in 2009 and joined ONG committee soon after this time, she later took the role of Admin Secretary and OT rep. In 2016 she became Chief Editor of ONG News. Sally works full time in 2 specialist orthodontic practices; she also has Cert Ed and has been involved with dental nurse teaching for many years both for qualifications and for extended duties. She also teaches free lance on the Masters in Clinical Dentistry on theorthodontic programme at BPP University.
Sarah LoudonFinance Officer

Sarah is a qualified orthodontic therapist working full-time at New Cross Hospital, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. Caring for routine and complex MDT orthodontic patients within the secondary care setting under consultant supervision. Sarah qualified at Birmingham Dental Hospital with a combined National /Hospital Qualification, continuing her role in GDP and the Community Dental Service for Dudley and eventually gaining further qualifications in Oral Health, Radiography, Sedation and Orthodontic Nursing in 2012. Sarah qualified in Orthodontic Therapy in 2013 from Warwick and has been actively involved in departmental clinical governance, ad-hoc teaching, service initiatives and CPD. Sarah has always believed in lifelong learning.

Amanda HeapAdministrative Secretary
Amanda took on this role from Sept 2015 after joining the committee in April 2015. She work as a full time dental nurse at York Hospital and has been involved in orthodontics in this setting as well as general practice for 11 years. She particularly loves the sense of achievement when helping to improve a young persons smile and confidence.
Claire KingsnorthSecretary

Claire has been a dental nurse since 2004. She works at Royal Bolton Hospital in the oral and maxillofacial and orthodontic departments and is also a tutor and Internal Quality Assurance assessor at Delta Dental. Claire gained Fellowship with the BADN in 2019 and is on the BADN Panel of Representatives. Claire is the Secretary for the ONG and has been with the committee since 2020.

Pamela GillEditor

Pam qualified as an Orthodontic Therapist in 2012. She holds post qualifications in, radiography, orthodontic nursing, record taking, oral health with merit, mentorship clinical education and social prescribing. She has worked for MFT NHS Foundation Trust for 20 years in the orthodontic department and has been involved in treating a variety of complex malocclusions.

Since qualifying, Pam has been teaching the trainee orthodontic therapists on the Manchester course where she delivers various lectures and carries out hands-on teaching using the typodonts to educate the new future of Orthodontic Therapists. She also teaches on the post-qualification course for Orthodontic Nurses. Pam has experience in speaking at conferences and study days and continues to enjoy doing this.

Pam has been an ONG committee for six years and has enjoyed being the in-editor role for the E-Journal. She is looking forward to starting her role as Chair of the group and will continue to uphold her passion for the roles of orthodontic nurses and therapists whilst keeping their skills and education at the forefront of the group’s values.

Emma DaviesCo – Editor

Emma Qualified as a Dental Nurse in 2011 NVQ Level 3 at the University of Manchester Dental Hospital. She has worked in the Orthodontic Department since qualifying, and is trained to undertake records and give preventative advice on the Nurse led clinics. Emma has experience in assisting with complex cases alongside the Consultants within the department; such as patients with Hypodontia and surgical Orthognathic cases.

Tamiley MorrisWeb and Social Media Officer

Tamiley worked as a dental nurse for 27 years. Having started her nurse training at Manchester Dental Hospital, she then worked in general dental practice, HMP dental service and specialist orthodontic practice as a senior dental nurse prior to moving to work at the Royal Stoke Hospital orthodontic/restorative/maxillofacial department. The move into orthodontic therapy finally became a reality in 2014 when she started her training with the Leeds Orthodontic Therapy course. Tam has a special interest in working with patients with ASD and other learning challenges.

Amy HowardSponsorship Officer

Amy is the newest committee member to join the Orthodontic National Group. She has taken on the role of sponsorship officer. Amy recently qualified as an orthodontic therapist, having taken her RCS Eng exams in April. She thoroughly enjoyed her training and tuition at Leeds Dental Institute. She works at an independent orthodontic practice in Southampton. She has worked in dentistry for 22 years, with the last 7 years in orthodontics. She has lots of additional duty certificates including radiography, fluoride application and PAR scoring. Amy is looking forward to being an active member of the Orthodontic National Group and engaging with her fellow colleagues.

Trevor Hodge (UK)President
BDS, MFDS, MPhil(Orth), MOrthRCS, FDS(Orth)RCS, FDS, FHEA, FDTFEd
Trevor was appointed a Consultant Orthodontist at the Leeds Dental Institute in 2005. His practice here is focused on joint orthognathic cases and the management of patients with cleft lip and palate as well as supervision of Masters theses and postgraduate clinical training. In 2007 he co-founded the first UK course to train Orthodontic Therapists and in 2015 he was appointed Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in Orthodontics at University of Leeds with research areas including clinical and applied research, dental public health and health services research, and research in dental education. He is an examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) for the Membership in Orthodontics exam

Since 2007 Trevor has also been active in private practice and has lectured both nationally at the British Orthodontic Conference and internationally at the 7th and 8th IOC in Sydney and London. In 2018 he achieved European Board Orthodontist accreditation, won the 2018 British Orthodontic Society Maurice Berman Prize for Clinical Excellence for the second time and was the first UK recipient of a World Federation of Orthodontists – Regional Award of Merit