That’s an easy one to answer. Yes, if you are a dental nurse or dental technician registration applies to you. If you ‘opt out’ of registration, then from July 2008, you will be committing a criminal offence if you use the title dental nurse, dental technician or dental technologist. The same applies if you use any other title or description which misleadingly implies that you are a dental nurse or dental technician. Legally you’ll be in the same position as any member of the public, so your options will be limited when it comes to working in dental nursing or dental technology. Please don’t take the risk – register now. Dental nurses and dental technicians who have older qualifications (ones which won’t be recognised for registration after July 2008), and those who planned on registering on the basis of their experience, will miss the boat completely if they don’t register now. The only way on to the register after July 2008 will be with one of the newer qualifications. So unless you are able and willing to qualify from scratch, apply now or it will be too late for you. We value and respect both experience and qualifications obtained in some cases many years ago following a lot of study and hard work. In the future we will not be able to quality assure older qualifications, which is one of the reasons for having this transitional period.

Put very simply, we introduced compulsory registration for patient protection, so that patients can have confidence that all members of the team are properly trained and working to the same high standards set by the GDC. Patients can also be assured that if there’s a serious problem and a dental professional isn’t meeting the standards expected of them, there’s a fair way of looking into this. Registration is not a club to join or ignore if you feel like it. As a dental nurse or dental technician who no doubt cares about standards and doing a job well, we hope you want to belong to a profession which is being properly regulated and in which standards are safeguarded, and if you regard that as a benefit that’s great. But it’s actually not about benefits for anyone other than patients, at the end of the day.

If you have not already got an application form please download one from this website or request one by calling 0845 222 4141 (UK local rate) or by emailing GDCregistration@gdc-uk.org. You then need to complete you application form and send it to us, along with copies of supporting documents and the registration fee. When completing your application form please remember to provide proof of your: identity; qualification (if applicable); and change of name (if different to that on your qualification certificate). And don’t forget to complete the health declaration.

The health certificate only needs to be completed if you work with patients, in which case it will show that you are fit to practise. This must be completed by a dentist if s/he has worked with you for over a year, or by a medical practitioner who is not a member of your family.

We made changes to the health check requirements for registrant applicants in November 2006. The changes recognise that the roles of some members of the dental team are more exposure-prone than others and therefore carry different degrees of risk for patients: Dental technicians who do not work in a clinical environment do not need to provide a health certificate. You still have to make a self-declaration about your health and confirm that you do not have any clinical contact with patients. If you do come into contact with patients, however occasionally this may be, you do have to provide a health certificate as part of your registration application. This health certificate can be completed by either an employing or supervising dentist or a doctor.

We advise you to contact your awarding body to request a duplicate certificate or a letter confirming that you have gained the qualification. The letter should contain the details that would have been on the certificate.

From July 2008 all dental nurses and dental technicians must be registered with the GDC. Trainee dental nurses and dental technicians who are working towards a registrable qualification don’t need to register with the GDC until they have finished their studies. Please remember, though, that you will need to register as soon as you have qualified.

The two years' chair-side experience is part of the requirement to complete the National Certificate. So, even though you have passed your exam, the fact that you are still doing your two years in the practice means that you are still 'in training' and can therefore work as a dental nurse. When you have completed your two years and got your certificate, you will need to register with us straight away.

Yes, a dental nurse is entitled to continue working while waiting to re-sit their exam. They will continue to be deemed ‘in training’. It would be advisable to keep a training log during this period to demonstrate what efforts are being made to improve the candidate’s chances of passing the exam.

Dental nurses and dental technicians are in training if they are studying for a registrable qualification in their field. If they work in the surgery or laboratory before their formal training can begin, they should have a proper induction covering health and safety and confidentiality and keep a log of the training they receive in the practice or laboratory. They must also have the necessary immunisations and trainee dental nurses should not carry out exposure prone procedures until their immunisations are complete.

A clinical dental technician may only work with patients when such patient contact is part of a GDC approved training course. CDTs may not work with patients outside of the training course until they are registered with the GDC.

They should make every effort possible, and be able to demonstrate that they have made the effort, to get on the next available course. If necessary, they should get onto a waiting list and request a letter that states they are on a waiting list. If they are working in the surgery before their formal training begins, they should have a proper induction covering health and safety and confidentiality. They should also have the necessary immunisation. Nurses who find themselves in this situation should keep a log of the training they receive in the practice while waiting to start their course.

Dentists as team leaders are responsible for ensuring their dental nurse has had the appropriate induction, vaccinations and is enrolled on a GDC approved Dental Nurse programme. Dentists may delegate these supervisory responsibilities to another named registrant.

A proper induction must cover health and safety and confidentiality. They should also have the necessary immunisations. The Dental Nurse Access to Registration Training (DNART) programme, which is available on CD Rom is a useful introduction for trainees.

All GDC registrants need to make sure there are adequate and appropriate arrangements in place so that patients can claim any compensation they may be entitled to. The only appropriate arrangements recognised by the GDC are: dental defence organisation membership (whether their own membership or employer’s membership); professional indemnity insurance held individually or by their employer; and NHS indemnity. Anyone relying on arrangements made by their employer without arranging either a policy of their own or joining a defence organisation, has a responsibility to check the position with their employer. There is further information about professional indemnity on this website.

All registrants have an individual responsibility to ensure they have adequate indemnity cover. For dental nurses, this might be via the dentists’ Employers’ Liability Insurance or via indemnity policies held by the dentists in the practice that will also cover their dental nurses. However, it is the responsibility of the dental nurse to be sure this is the case. Talk to your employer and be sure you are adequately covered. If not, you should take steps to ensure that you obtain cover before working.

Yes, DCPs must pay an annual retention fee (ARF) to remain on the DCP Register. Dental nurses and dental technicians who pay their registration fee in the transition period (before 30 July 2008) are covered for the transition period plus the first year of compulsory registration (until July 2009). The registration fee is currently £96, this is reviewed annually.

The DCP registration fees were increased to cover the cost of bringing new DCP groups onto the register. The GDC does not receive government funding and registrant fees are its sole income. Therefore the cost of registration needs to reflect the cost of regulating dentists and dental care professionals.

Yes, registration fees can be claimed against tax.

The ARF is set annually, usually in the summer. The GDC will make public this information once available.

The transition period is a one-off opportunity to access the register via experience rather than by formal qualifications. This route recognises that, in the past, many dental nurses did not undergo formal, approved training and became experienced and competent by doing the job to a high standard over a long period of time. The transition period is intended to allow these dental nurses to join the register without formal qualifications. This requirement for a transitional period is set out in the Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 1440 and is therefore a legal requirement. As registration is intended to ensure that in the future all Dental Nurses are suitably qualified, the transition period will cease at the end of July 2008.

Currently, the transition period is a one-off opportunity to access registration via experience. For those who can not meet the criteria for registration by the experience route, completing a GDC approved dental technician/technology programme is the only route onto the register. After the transition period ends on 30 July 2008, the only route to registration will be by successful completion of a GDC approved training programme.

The amount of experience required was suggested by the expert working group which began the planning for DCP registration. The length of experience required for dental technicians was increased after consultation with dental technology bodies.

The criteria for deciding whether a qualification should be registrable in the long term or only during transition, was based on whether or not the qualification was still being awarded. Those that are still awarded will be eligible for first registration after July 2008, whereas those that are no longer awarded are only registrable during the transition period. The GDC consulted with all DCP groups when compiling curricula for each group which are set out in the Developing the Dental Team document. A working group for each DCP category was set up in order to identify and set the criteria. Developing the Dental Team sets out the criteria that training programmes must meet in order to gain GDC approval and is available on this website. The GDC welcomes submissions from any education provider wishing to provide new qualifications for DCPs. Providers must demonstrate that the programme they are proposing meet the criteria outlined in Developing the Dental Team. A submission is assessed by external assessors against the criteria outlined in Developing the Dental Team. The submission along with the assessors’ report is then presented to the Education Committee for consideration. Approved programmes are given provisional approval in the first instance with full approval given upon successful inspection of the first cohort of students on the programme. Minutes of Education Committee meetings, including their decisions are public documents and are available on this website.

Following the opening of the Dental Care Professionals Register in July 2006 all registered dental professionals can take part in ‘the business of dentistry’. This means that registered dental care professionals can own their own practices, go into partnerships with each other or dentists, and employ other members of the dental team. Registered dental care professionals and dentists all count towards the professional majority required on the board of directors of a Dental Body Corporate.

From July 2008 all dental nurses and dental technicians that you employ or manage must be registered with us. Trainee dental nurses and dental technicians who are working towards a registrable qualification don’t need to register with the GDC until they have finished their studies. Please remember, though, that they will need to register as soon as they have qualified.

If you are a registered dentist or dental care professional and you employ or manage an unregistered person to work as a dental nurse or dental technician (whatever job title you give them), you will be liable to fitness to practise proceedings, putting your own livelihood and business in jeopardy. And if the actions of an unregistered worker cause harm, you will carry the can for their mistakes. If you employ registered dental nurses or dental technicians, on the other hand, you need to follow the GDC’s guidance on management responsibilities, but your registered staff will be individually responsible to the GDC for their conduct and standards.

From July 2008 all dental nurses and dental technicians that you employ or manage must be registered with us. Dental nurses and dental technicians who hold EEA nationality, or can derive EEA rights from a family member, and who hold a qualification from an EEA state or who hold a qualification from an non-EEA member state but have worked in an EEA member state for two years, may be able to apply for an assessment of their qualification and skills for registration with us. If a dental nurses or dental technician falls into this category they should contact our Registration Team on 020 7344 3741 for further information. In addition we are working on implementing new routes to registration for dental nurses and dental technicians who do not have a UK qualification or are eligible to apply for an assessment. We are aiming to implement these new routes to registration later this year.

As a dental nurse or dental technician you have a personal responsibility to register with us. Any GDC registrant employing unregistered dental nurses or dental technicians after the deadline is risking their own registration.

Dentists have a responsibility to make sure that the dental technicians they are working with are registered. Dentists are putting their own registration at risk if they work with unregistered colleagues.

The GDC does not have the power to protect the UK technology industry from foreign competition, any more than we have the power to stop patients seeking dental care abroad. We make it very clear to GDC registrants, including dentists, clinical dental technicians and dental technicians that they need to understand and comply with their responsibilities under the laws and regulations governing their business, which in this case include the medical devices regulations. Individual dentists and technicians are accountable to the GDC for fulfilling these responsibilities, regardless of whether they are ‘GDC rules’ or simply part of the law of the land.

There are many ways of sharing your views with us - and we want to hear from you. Responding to our public consultations is one way of making your views known. We post all our consultations on our website and also publicise them though the professional associations and the dental media. You don’t have to wait for a consultation to get in touch. We genuinely want to hear what you think about our policies and our processes – what you think about how we do things. Please get in touch with your views (phone 0845 222 4141 (UK local rate) or email information@gdc-uk.org). We also have regular meetings with the associations representing your profession, so you can share your views through them if you’d prefer. And if you want to get actively involved, there are opportunities. Dental nurses and technicians now sit on a range of our policy committees and working groups, including our Registration Committee, and we have recently recruited dental nurses and dental technicians as members of our Fitness to Practise Panel. The new fully appointed Council, which we expect to be in place in 2008 (new legislation is needed for this) will have four DCP members. DCPs from all registrant groups will be able to apply for the jobs. Members won’t be appointed to represent particular groups, as all Council members are there to work on behalf of the public, but will be chosen to ensure there is the right mix of skills and experience on the Council. Does this sound like you? Why not apply when the time comes?

The GDC is developing more detailed guidance on the limited scope of activity which unregistered individuals can safely undertake in dental surgeries and dental laboratories, and the conditions under which they can be employed. Whatever the detail of that guidance in due course, the key message has to be: if you are eligible to apply for registration as a dental technician, you can only lose by not applying now. Why take the risk?