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Dental Nurse pay in Ireland

This is the longest climb of any grade we cover. Sixteen ordinary points, then a long service increment, which means a full career to reach the top.

The short answer

A newly qualified dental nurse starts on €32,308 a year. After 19 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €55,513. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€32,308
about €2,332 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€55,513
about €3,513 a month take-home

Figures from Department of Health Circular 2/2026, effective 1 June 2026. Take-home is for a single person with standard credits, after income tax, USC, PRSI and ASC.

What point of the scale am I on?

This is where most salary pages get it wrong. Your point is not always the same as your years of service, because one of the two scales carries incremental skips. Pick your situation:

You are on point 1
€32,308

The full pay scale, every point

Dental Nurse, with qualification

Sixteen ordinary points and then a long service increment. No other grade on this site has a scale this long.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€32,308€27,987€2,332
2€33,914€29,157€2,430
3€34,782€29,781€2,482
4€36,024€30,652€2,554
5€37,058€31,377€2,615
6€38,086€32,098€2,675
7€39,554€33,128€2,761
8€40,569€33,840€2,820
9€41,466€34,469€2,872
10€42,417€35,136€2,928
11€44,064€36,291€3,024
12€44,682€36,656€3,055
13€45,852€37,250€3,104
14€47,317€37,994€3,166
15€49,536€39,122€3,260
16€52,172€40,461€3,372
LSI€55,513€42,158€3,513

Take-home assumes a single person with the personal and employee tax credits, no other income, and ASC at Single Public Service Pension Scheme rates. Your main superannuation contribution is deducted separately and depends on your scheme.

Dental Nurse, Senior

Seven points, starting close to where the ordinary scale finishes. Promotion here is what shortens what is otherwise a very long climb.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€52,426€40,590€3,382
2€54,235€41,509€3,459
3€55,896€42,353€3,529
4€57,422€43,128€3,594
5€59,292€44,078€3,673
6€60,891€44,889€3,741
7€62,652€45,782€3,815

Long service increments are marked in the source document only by being printed in bold, so we identified them from the font used rather than by assuming which points they were. On a scale this long that mattered: a misread would have changed the climb by years.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the dental nurse scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 19 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€32,308
Year 2Point 2€33,914
Year 3Point 3€34,782
Year 4Point 4€36,024
Year 5Point 5€37,058
Year 6Point 6€38,086
Year 7Point 7€39,554
Year 8Point 8€40,569
Year 9Point 9€41,466
Year 10Point 10€42,417
Year 11Point 11€44,064
Year 12Point 12€44,682
Year 13Point 13€45,852
Year 14Point 14€47,317
Year 15Point 15€49,536
Year 16Point 16€52,172
Year 19Long Service Increment€55,513

Progression is automatic on your incremental date as long as your service is satisfactory. Time spent on a career break or otherwise out of service pushes your incremental date back. The Long Service Increment is not an annual increment: it is paid only after 3 years of satisfactory service at the maximum of the scale, which is why it appears 3 years after the last point rather than the year after it.

What comes off your salary

Four deductions apply before your pay reaches your account, and one of them is specific to the public service.

Income tax, USC and PRSI

The same as any employee. Income tax at 20% up to €44,000 for a single person and 40% above, USC in bands from 0.5% to 8%, and PRSI at 4.2%.

ASC, the public service extra

The Additional Superannuation Contribution. Nothing on the first €34,500, then 3.33% to €60,000 and 3.5% above for Single Scheme members. Pre-2013 scheme members pay 10% and 10.5% on the same bands. It reduces your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

One thing to be aware of: the take-home figures on this page include ASC but not your main superannuation contribution, which is charged separately and depends on which pension scheme you joined. Your actual net pay will be somewhat lower. We show ASC because its rates are published and identical for everyone, while the main contribution varies.

Questions people ask most

How much does a dental nurse earn in Ireland?
In the HSE, a qualified Dental Nurse starts on €32,308 and reaches €52,172 at the top of the ordinary scale, with a long service increment of €55,513 after that. A Senior Dental Nurse runs from €52,426 to €62,652. These are the rates effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a dental nurse?
€32,308 on the first point of the scale for a nurse with the qualification. It is one of the lower starting points in the health service, and the scale makes up for it slowly rather than quickly.
How long does it take to reach the top of the dental nurse scale?
About fifteen years to reach €52,172 at the top of the sixteen ordinary points, and then the long service increment of €55,513 after a further period at the maximum. It is the longest scale of any grade covered on this site, three points longer than a staff nurse.
Why is the dental nurse scale so long?
That is how it is published. Sixteen points at roughly a thousand a year each means the increases are small and the climb is slow, where most health grades reach their ceiling in eight to twelve years. The practical effect is that promotion to Senior matters more here than in most grades.
How much does a Senior Dental Nurse earn?
From €52,426 to €62,652 over seven points. The first point is just above the €52,172 top of the ordinary scale, so a promotion is worth roughly a year of increments straight away and a great deal more over time.
Is dental nurse pay the same in private practice?
No, and this page does not cover it. These are the HSE scales, set by circular and identical nationwide. Pay in private dental practice is negotiated with the employer and is not published anywhere we could cite, so we do not give a figure for it.
How does it compare to a staff nurse?
A staff nurse starts considerably higher, €38,166 against €32,308, and reaches €56,592 against €55,513. The gap is widest at the start and narrows across a career, but the staff nurse gets there in twelve points rather than sixteen.
When do these rates change next?
These are effective 1 June 2026 under the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which is in its final year. The next change depends on the successor agreement, and we update this page when revised scales are published.

Where these figures come from

Every euro figure on this page is taken from the official circulars below, not from salary surveys or crowd-sourced averages. Last checked 2026-08-18.

More public sector pay:

All public sector pay scales →