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Report a public protection issue or concern about a dentist or dental professional  

This page is aimed at patients and the public, if you are a dental professional, see our advice on raising a concern if you work in dentistry.

Our role as a regulator is to protect the public. We investigate serious concerns about dental professionals. 

Regulators cannot resolve individual complaints or help with refunds.  

Find out how to make a complaint or get a refund.

As the UK regulator, we set and support high professional standards in dental education and practice. We maintain a Register of dental professionals who meet our standards.  

We investigate public protection issues or concerns. When we find that a dental professional has fallen short of our standards, posing a risk to public safety or confidence, we take action. This can include suspending their registration or putting conditions on their practice. Where there are serious or immediate concerns action is taken to protect the public while we investigate.

When to report to us

If you believe that the clinical practice, behaviour or health of a dental professional may be putting the public or patients at risk you should report it to us. We deal with the most serious issues and concerns about dental professionals.  

You should follow our three-step complaints process first. The organisations that help you through the complaints process may also report your issue to us if they think it is a public protection concern. 

We look into serious concerns that suggest the professional could be:

  • causing significant harm to patients or the public
  • causing significant harm to colleagues
  • undermining public confidence in the dental profession.

Some examples of what we investigate include:

  • serious or repeated mistakes in patient care or clinical treatment, including breaking patient confidentiality
  • not responding to a patient’s needs, including not referring for further investigation when needed
  • violence, sexual assault, misconduct, and discrimination
  • any serious criminal offence, including potential fraud or theft

 Report a public protection issue or concern. 

When to contact another regulator

Some issues are the responsibility of other regulators. 

If you are worried about how a dental practice is being run, including the cleanliness of the practice, contact the health and care services regulator where you live: 

If your concerns are about the health and safety of the public, patients or visitors to the dental practice, or if you suspect that someone is practising dentistry (including tooth whitening) but is not a dentist or other dental professional contact Trading Standards.  

If you’ve had a bad reaction to a medicine or you’re experiencing serious issues with a medical device, including custom-made dental appliances, contact the  Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. 

If you have seen an advert that you think is misleading or offensive contact the  Advertising Standards Authority.