BADN – How it all began by Pam Swain

Many people think the BADN is a relatively new organisation. In fact, the “British Dental Nurses and Assistants Society” was started in 1940 in Leyland, Lancashire by dentist P E Grundy, who had heard about similar organisations in the US from an american dentist stationed nearby.

Most of the work in setting up the association was done by Mr Grundy’s dental nurse, (some things never change!) Madeleine Winter, who spent her weekends travelling around wartime Britain speaking to dental nurses and persuading them to join. Madeleine, or Bunty as she is known, was the Association’s first General Secretary in the early 1940s.

Bunty Leigh, as she now is, was guest of honour at the opening of BADN’s new offices at the Hillhouse International Business Centre in Thornton-Cleveleys. She brought with her photos of Mr Grundy and his nurses, and of the early days of the Association.

Mr Grundy realized the importance of training for dental nurses and trained his nurses first thing in the morning – before their 8.30am to 8.30pm working day! In 1943 the Association held the first dental nurse examination and Bunty Winter was one of the first dental nurses to become qualified – she even won the prize for one of the best candidates but was prevented from actually accepting because she was one of Mr Grundy’s dental nurses. The resulting Examining Board for Dental Nurses and Assistants remained part of the Association until 1988, when it became a separate organisation.

Members of the new Association received a membership card and, from the mid-1940s, a Journal.

An AGM was held in Preston in 1945.

First Council meeting of the British Dental Nurses and Assistants Society.
Bunty Winter is seated fourth from right of photo.

In 1960, the Association moved to new premises in Poulton-le-Fylde, just the other side of Preston from Leyland. As ever, they were at the cutting edge of technology, with a manual typewriter, duplicator and addressograph machine and General Secretary Jean Smith at the helm.

Some 18 years later, after various name changes and in its incarnation as the Association of British Dental Surgery Assistants (the title dental nurse had been dropped earlier following protests from general nurses) it moved to Fleetwood. By the late 1980s, the Association had nearly 1,000 members, a new General Secretary, Sue Adams, and two part-time staff.

When I started working for the Association in 1992, computerisation had just started, albeit in what now seems to be a very primitive way. The two part-time staff and I shared large desk in one room of the London Street premises, with a manual typewriter and a phone on the wall. Making phone calls before 1pm wasn’t permitted, as calls were cheaper in the afternoon (and, with a membership fee of just £28, economy was the order of the day) – and, as you had to stand up to use the phone, leaning over the bookcase to reach it, long conversations were too uncomfortable! Membership cards were typed individually on the manual typewriter, outgoing mail had stamps stuck on by the office clerk and it was all hands on deck for envelope stuffing and stamp licking every time we sent out a newsletter!

In 2004, the British Association of Dental Nurses (the name was changed in 1994, when the title of dental nurse was reinstated) moved once again to larger premises.

Bunty Leigh with BADN Chairman Elena Graham (left) and
President Hazel Carpenter at the opening of BADN’s new offices

Our membership numbers have increased beyond imagining over the last ten years. Members now receive a full colour glossy magazine four times each year, and a range of membership benefits from free legal advice to discounts on purchases and services and our Annual Conference has got bigger and better. The rapid technological developments over the past decade mean the Association now has an internal phone system, computer network, membership database and website – a far cry from the manual typewriter of the 1960s or even the early 1990s!

But the work is still carried out by just 4 staff members – two full time, one part time and me - and the membership fee is still only £36 - how’s that for value?!

Accounts for the year ended 31st December 1944
(please click on image to enlarge)