The General Dental Council (GDC) is to publish the full addresses of GDC-registered dental professionals on its website from 2007.

By law, the GDC is required to publish registrants’ addresses, so that the public and others have a means of identifying qualified dentists and dental care professionals.  Although currently only the postal town of each GDC registrant is listed online, full addresses have always been accessible to the public on request.

Until now, registrants’ full addresses have also been made available in a printed form via the Dentists Register, Rolls of Dental Auxiliaries, and Lists of Dental Specialists, published once a year. However, the GDC has decided to discontinue the printed versions of the registers after this year.

The decision to stop printing annual registers and to move to a full online listing instead has been made to give patients, employers and others better access to up to date information about registered dental professionals. The printed versions of the registers could not be amended to reflect any changes that took place during the year, and were out of date as soon as they were printed, whereas the online registers are updated daily.

Through the online register, the GDC is able to publish up-to-date details on registrants, and this reinforces its primary role of protecting the public.

Commenting on the change, GDC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin said:

“The details of GDC registrants have always been available to the public.  By publishing registered addresses online in full we will be giving patients, employers and others a more reliable means of identifying registered dental professionals.”

Dental professionals are required to provide the GDC with an up to date address but this does not necessarily have to mean their home address. GDC President Hew Mathewson explains:

“We understand that some GDC registrants may be concerned about their privacy. Those listed under their home address may want to amend their details. They can choose their work address or any other address at which we can reach them. Whatever address registrants choose, they must make sure they keep it updated and let us know if they need to change it. If we cannot make contact, registrants may miss out on vital information.”

GDC registrants can use their work address, or a PO Box, or select their home address, whichever they prefer.

For more information or to change their address details registrants should contact the GDC:

By email: GDCregistration@gdc-uk.org
By telephone: +44 (0)20 7887 3800
By fax: +44 (0)20 7487 2463
By mail: Registration Maintenance and Compliance Team, General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G8DQ

Click here for a change of address form.

Ends

For media enquiries, please contact Alexander Wells on 020 7009 2746

Note to Editors:

1. The 2006 Registers are still available for purchase in printed format from the GDC.

2. To confirm a dental professional is registered with GDC and licensed to work in the UK, you can search the on-line Registers here. These are updated daily.  You can search by entering a name, town, postcode, registration number, or any combination of these and clicking 'find records'. You can also check a dental professional’s registration by phone or email.