Resources
How to revise for the Diploma
What the qualification involves, a revision approach that works for multiple-choice recall, and the sources behind every explanation in the bank.
About the qualification
The NEBDN National Diploma in Dental Nursing (Level 3) is the Level 3 qualification most trainee dental nurses in the UK take on the way to registration with the General Dental Council. It is assessed in two parts: a written Knowledge Test of multiple-choice questions, and a Record of Experience documenting what you have actually done in practice.
This site and the app are aimed squarely at the first of those. The Record of Experience is yours and your supervisor's work, and nothing here substitutes for it.
Entry requirements, exam dates, fees and the current syllabus all come from NEBDN and your training provider — check them there, not here, because they change and we are not the authority on them.
The ten units
The Diploma is organised into ten units, and so is the question bank. Their relative sizes in the bank reflect roughly how much ground each one covers.
| Unit | Covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Professional Practice | GDC standards, infection control, health and safety, consent and confidentiality. | 124 |
| 2. Leading and Team Working | Team roles and scope of practice, delegation, referral, appraisal and raising concerns. | 71 |
| 3. Communication | Communicating with patients, explaining treatment plans and costs, and overcoming barriers. | 44 |
| 4. Inclusive Practice | Equality law, protected characteristics and inclusive care in the dental setting. | 20 |
| 5. Assessment and Diagnosis | Anatomy and physiology, tooth morphology, caries, radiography, charting and periodontal assessment. | 133 |
| 6. Treatment Planning | Local anaesthesia, restorative materials, cavity preparation, impressions, prosthodontics and extractions. | 88 |
| 7. Promoting Oral Health | Fluoride, plaque and saliva, diet and free sugars, and oral health education. | 35 |
| 8. Health and Well-being | Occupational hazards, inoculation injury, immunisation and personal well-being. | 26 |
| 9. CPD | The GDC enhanced CPD scheme, hours, development outcomes, evidence and the PDP. | 35 |
| 10. Medical Emergencies | Basic life support, emergency drugs and equipment, and the collapsed patient. | 26 |
A revision approach that holds up
Start with the units you avoid
The unit you keep not opening is the one costing you marks. Work out which it is by scoring badly on it once, deliberately, early — while there is still time to do something about it.
Practise retrieval, not recognition
Re-reading notes feels productive and is not. Answering a question you might get wrong is what builds the recall you need under time pressure. That is why the free quizzes here show the explanation only after you commit to an answer.
Read the explanation when you are right
A lucky guess and solid knowledge look identical on a score. The explanation tells you which one it was — and why the three wrong options were wrong, which is often the more useful half.
Sit a timed mock before you think you are ready
65 questions in 90 minutes is a pace, and pace has to be practised. Finding out how it feels the week before is far better than finding out on the day.
Space it out
Four half-hour sessions across a week beat one long session at the end of it. Revisiting a unit after you have half-forgotten it is precisely when the practice does the most good.
What the explanations are written against
Every one of the 602 questions carries an explanation that names its source. These are the works cited most often across the bank:
- Levison's Textbook for Dental Nurses, 12th edition
- GDC Standards for the Dental Team
- GDC Enhanced CPD Scheme
- British Society of Periodontology BPE guidelines (2019)
- Resuscitation Council UK guidelines
Check the current edition. Guidance, editions and scheme rules change, sometimes between one exam sitting and the next. Where anything here disagrees with the current published document or with your training provider, they are right and we are out of date — and we would appreciate you telling us .
Revise anywhere, with the whole question bank
This site publishes the app's free sample. Dental Nurse Exam Revision carries the full bank offline, so you can revise on the bus, between patients, or the night before.
- All 602 questions
- Every question across all 10 units, including the five this site cannot unlock.
- 65-question mock test
- Timed at 90 minutes, mirroring the shape of the real Knowledge Test.
- An explanation every time
- Every answer explains itself and cites where it comes from, right or wrong.
- Progress you can see
- History and per-unit results show which units still need the work.
For iPhone, iPad and Android.
