Every dentist who treats patients in the UK must be registered with the General Dental Council (GDC). There is no NHS or private work without it.
There are two broad routes onto the register, and which one applies to you depends entirely on where you qualified. Getting the route right at the outset is what keeps the process from doubling in length.
Dentists holding qualifications from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland follow an assessment route rather than sitting the overseas examination. Standstill recognition arrangements for these qualifications currently run to June 2028, so the position is time sensitive and worth confirming with the GDC before you apply.
Dentists who qualified outside the UK and the EU or EEA must pass an overseas examination to demonstrate they meet UK standards. There are two examinations that lead to the same full registration: the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE), run by the GDC, and the Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS), run by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
All routes carry an English language requirement. The GDC accepts an IELTS Academic certificate with an overall score of at least 7.0 and at least 6.5 in each category, provided the certificate is original, stamped and signed and usually no more than two years old. Other evidence, such as a dental qualification taught and examined in English, can also be accepted.
Beyond the route and the language evidence, registration needs your qualification documents, identity evidence and the relevant application correctly completed and submitted. Errors and missing evidence are the most common cause of delay, which is why a managed process runs the steps in parallel and checks them before submission.
Sourced from official bodies. Always check the source for the current position.
A dentist cannot work at your practice until they are GDC registered. Knowing the route protects:
Approve the dentist and confirm the role.
Confirms the route, tracks documents and milestones with the GDC, and reports readiness for first clinical day.
Yes. Registration with the General Dental Council is the legal requirement to practise dentistry in the UK, for both NHS and private work.
It depends on where you qualified. EU, EEA and Switzerland qualifications follow the assessment route. Qualifications from elsewhere take the overseas examination route, either the ORE or the LDS.
An IELTS Academic certificate at overall 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each category is accepted. Some qualifications taught and examined in English, and other registration language tests, can also qualify.
Yes. Dentello assesses your route and manages the documentation, English language evidence and the ORE or LDS where it applies, in parallel with the visa and NHS steps.
Explore how Dentello manages GDC registration end to end, or talk to the team about your route.
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