Corporate dentistry

The General Dental Council (GDC) is not a licensing body and a dental body corporate (DBC) does not require GDC approval to set itself up as a DBC. However, a DBC that wishes to carry out the business of dentistry must satisfy the requirements of Sections 40 and 43 of the Dentists Act 1984.

Factors to be taken into consideration when establishing a DBC are:

• A body corporate commits an offence, if it carries on the business of dentistry at a time when the majority of its directors are not persons who are either registered dentists or registered dental care professionals.
• Where a person is the subject of a decision erasing his name from, or suspending him from, a register kept by any of the regulatory bodies listed in section 25(3) of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002, that person commits an offence if he is a director of a body corporate carrying on the business of dentistry at any time when such an erasure or suspension remains in effect.
• Any DBC committing an offence under the dentists act shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (£5000).

Please note that the GDC does not provide legal advice on the interpretation and application of the Dentists Act in relation to DBCs. We would recommend that you contact your solicitor or other appropriate professional adviser if you have any further questions.