Nina Farmer is a Dental Therapist and dual-trained Nutritional Therapist with over 20 years’ experience in dentistry. She began her career as a Dental Nurse and has since built a practice focused on prevention, holistic care and empowering patients to achieve better oral and general health outcomes.

Nutrition impacts oral health in many ways, from sugar and caries risk to more far-reaching effects such as supporting periodontal outcomes and managing wider health risk factors. Yet due to time pressures and limited training, it’s often under discussed in everyday practice.

We are increasingly aware of the links between oral health and general health, but awareness alone isn’t enough. If we want to improve outcomes, we need to feel confident having conversations about diet, lifestyle and prevention in a way that is practical, safe and within our professional scope.

Making every contact count

One of the key principles I’ll be exploring in my session is ‘Making Every Contact Count’ — an NHS initiative that encourages anyone working in healthcare to use routine patient interactions to support wellbeing and lifestyle change.

In dentistry, we see patients regularly and often build long-term relationships with them. That gives us a unique opportunity to reinforce preventive messages at every appointment, whether that’s during oral health education, chairside support or routine reviews.

For me, making every contact count doesn’t mean delivering long lectures or overwhelming patients. It means using small, meaningful moments to encourage healthier choices and trusting that those small moments add up.

The host response

I will also be exploring how nutrition supports the host response: the body’s immune and inflammatory processes.

Nutrients are essential for immune function and inflammation regulation, and it’s well established that diets low in essential nutrients are linked to a higher risk of infection and poorer healing. This has direct implications for periodontal disease, wound healing and overall treatment success.

When we understand this, nutrition stops being an ‘add-on’ and becomes a central part of clinical care.

Signs of nutritional deficiency

Many nutritional insufficiencies and deficiencies present first in the mouth, often before they are detected elsewhere in the body. Some of the key oral signs include recurrent ulcers, angular cheilitis, glossitis, dry mouth and delayed healing. These signs can be early indicators that something more systemic is happening.

Poor nutrition may also be linked to general health conditions such as anaemia, diabetes, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal disorders, hormonal imbalances and eating disorders, all of which can have oral manifestations.

Communication with patients

One of the most common concerns I hear from dental nurses is, “I’m worried about saying the wrong thing.” That’s completely understandable and it’s something I’m keen to address.

For safe, generic advice, I always encourage focusing on adding to the diet rather than taking away. For example, never remove a food group, as this can be harmful, particularly for individuals with a difficult relationship with food.

Instead, I recommend asking open, non-judgemental questions, framing advice positively, suggesting improvements rather than restricting and using simple, supportive resources such as My Plate. This approach helps patients feel supported rather than criticised and is essential for lasting behaviour change.

Knowing when and where to signpost

Dental nurses are not expected to diagnose or manage complex nutritional or medical conditions, but they are ideally placed to recognise when something isn’t right. They have frequent patient contact, patients trust them, and they play a central role in preventative care pathways.

Any concerns about a patient’s general health should be signposted to their GP. This referral pathway is essential for safe, effective care and ensures patients receive the appropriate support. By understanding their role within the wider healthcare team, dental nurses can contribute to earlier intervention, better outcomes and more joined-up care.

Practical tools that support behavioural change

At Dentistry Show Birmingham I’ll also be talking about practical tools that can support patient engagement, such as diet diaries. Used well, they can shift conversations from assumption to evidence and empower patients to reflect on their own habits — which is far more effective than being told what to do!

Diet diaries can increase patient awareness, help identify patterns, encourage ownership and provide a clear starting point for discussion.

Final thoughts

If there’s one message, I want to convey it’s this: Nutrition is a huge part of prevention, and you have the confidence, opportunity and influence to make every contact count with your patients.

By attending my session, I hope attendees will gain confidence in discussing nutrition with their patients, gain practical tools for patient engagement, clear guidance on signposting plus a deeper understanding of the role they can play in holistic care.

Most importantly, they’ll leave empowered to use every patient interaction as an opportunity to improve health: in the mouth and beyond.