Scope of Practice guidance

The Scope of Practice guidance sets out the skills and abilities each of the seven dental professional roles within the dental team should have. It is not an exhaustive list of all tasks that a dental professional can do. As a dental professional, your individual scope of practice is likely to change over the course of your career, whether because of changes in the technology of dentistry, or your further training and development.

The Scope of Practice guidance also describes additional skills that you might develop after registration with the GDC to increase your personal scope of practice within the boundaries of your professional title. You may expand your scope by developing additional skills, or you may deepen your knowledge of a particular area by choosing more specialised practice.

You should only carry out a task or type of treatment or make decisions about a patient’s care if you are sure that you have the necessary skills and are appropriately trained, competent and indemnified. If you are unclear exactly what this means you should ask yourself the following questions:

Am I trained to carry out this task or treatment?
Do I feel competent to carry out this task or treatment?
Am I indemnified/practice covered to carry out this task or treatment?

If a task, type of treatment or decision is outside your scope of practice or you do not feel that you are trained and competent to do it, you must refer the patient to an appropriately trained colleague. You must practise in accordance with the GDC’s  Standards for the Dental Team at all times.

You can view or download the Scope of Practice guidance here.

Please note that the current Scope of Practice guidance will be replaced with an updated version on 1 November 2025, following a review and public consultation. The changes to the guidance will not alter any of the dental professions’ scope of practice. Rather, the updated guidance aims to better enable dental professionals to use their professional judgment within the existing boundaries of the professions, in the interest of patients. You can learn more about this change on our Review of Scope of Practice guidance page.