Dental care professionals (DCPs) wishing to register with the General Dental Council (GDC) will be able to collect DCP application packs from the GDC exhibition stand at this year’s Dental Showcase, which is taking place at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London from 5-7 October 2006.

GDC staff will be on hand at stand H11 throughout the three-day event to provide all the latest information and answer queries.  Dentists wishing to learn more about the end of the first five-year cycle of continuing professional development (CPD) and the new core subjects will be able to speak to the GDC staff and to pick up information from the exhibition stand.

GDC President Hew Mathewson said:

“The Dental Showcase is a good opportunity for current and future members of the dental team to meet with the GDC staff who will be on hand to answer your questions about any area of the Council’s work.

”The GDC is very pleased with the way the profession has responded to the introduction of statutory registration for DCPs and I would encourage dental nurses and technicians attending the Dental Showcase to come along to the GDC exhibition stand to collect an application pack.”

Application packs for dental nurses and technicians and further information about DCP registration are available on this website.

Potential registrants can also request an application pack by emailing their name and address to dcpform@gdc-uk.org or by calling the GDC on 020 7887 3800.

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For media enquiries, please contact Rachel Lea on 020 7009 2782.

Notes to Editors

1. Further information about the London Dental Showcase is available at http://www.dentalshowcase.com/.

2. Registration for dental nurses and technicians will become compulsory on 31 July 2008.  However, the GDC is encouraging dental nurses and technicians to join the register during the two-year transition period, which will enable dental nurses and technicians who have been working in their role for a number of years to join the register on the basis of validated experience.  Dental nurses and technicians joining the register after 30 July 2008 will need to have a GDC-recognised qualification. 

3. Registration for two additional groups - clinical dental technicians and orthodontic therapists – is now compulsory.  This is because these professions are being recognised for the first time in the UK.  Professionals wishing to register within these groups will need to have undertaken a GDC-recognised training course.

4. Every dentist must carry out CPD by law to keep his or her name on the UK Dentists Register.  If dentists do not meet the legal requirements of CPD, they risk being taken off the Dentists Register.  More information about CPD requirements for dentists is available on this website.