Access to Professional Registers Held by the General Dental Council

Dental Schools’ Council is aware that there are clear processes in place to support Dental graduates from overseas to demonstrate their skills and training to enable them to be approved for access to the GDC register for dentists through the “Overseas Registration Examination” or the LDSRCS diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons in England.

The Council is concerned that the same level of assurance is not in place for all other professional registers held by the GDC, especially that for Dental Hygienist/Therapists.

The Council’s view is that a lack of an equivalent method for assurance of skills and training for individuals who are accepted onto any of the professional registers poses an unacceptable risk to the patients for whom those individuals subsequently provide care.

The Council would ask that the GDC undertakes an urgent review of access to all of its professional registers to assure the safety of the public.