Continuing Professional Development

Dental Care Professionals

Welcome to the Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) section. We are keen to assist you in accessing the education and training you need as part of your dental career pathway. It is recommended that potential students contact the training provider directly for further information. There are several organisations which can provide further information for DCPs and some of these are listed in these pages.

If you are already qualified and registered, there is information that will support you in fulfilling the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements ensuring you maintain your GDC registration. The website has an integral dental course management system which lists the CPD courses available to all dental team members.

If you are a dental professional, by law, you must register with the to work in the UK.

General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1G 8DQ

Tel: 020 7887 3800
Web:     http://www.gdc-uk.org/
E-mail:  DCP@gdc-uk.org

Registers are held for Dentists and Dental Care Professionals (dental nurses, dental hygienists, dental therapists, orthodontic therapists, dental technicians, and clinical dental technicians). From 1st August 2018 the GDC introduced the Enhanced Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which runs in five-year cycles. All CPD undertaken should be verifiable and the number of hours required is dependent of registration title:

Minimum hours of CPD per cycle
TitleHours
Dentists100
Dental therapists75
Dental hygienists75
Orthodontic therapists75
Clinical dental technicians75
Dental nurses50
Dental technicians50

Verifiable means that when you have attended a course/study day, there are clear educational objectives aligned to the GDC development outcomes for the content delivered. You can leave feedback via an evaluation sheet, reflect on your learning from the course and then receive a Certificate of Attendance as proof of attendance.

You must also ensure that you complete at least 10 hours of verifiable CPD during any two-year period.