Specialist list application pack

Depending on your personal circumstances, your application to join a specialist list needs to follow a particular route – please see the relevant section below. To apply, please read the application guidance and download the appropriate application form.

CCST applicants

If you have completed a GDC-approved course of specialty training leading to the award of a certificate of specialist training (CCST), the appropriate application forms and guidance will be sent to you once we have received a recommendation from the UK regional deanery under which you trained.

Swiss applicants

You may be able to apply to join a specialist list if you are a Swiss dentist within the meaning as given by the European Qualifications (Health and Social Care Professions) (EFTA States) (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 and you are currently registered with the GDC as a dentist.

If you fall into this category, please contact the Assessments team and include your nationality, whether you hold specialist dental qualifications from outside of the UK, or if you have knowledge and experience derived from academic or research work. Our Assessments team will provide you with the relevant application form and guidance.

Your application will be assessed against your individual circumstances.

Assessed applications

For UK and overseas qualified dentists without a CCST, alternative evidence can be considered for entry onto a specialist list. This route is for those who either hold a specialist dental qualification awarded outside the UK or who have gained equivalent knowledge or experience from academic or research work.

Assessments are currently paused

Applications for entry onto the specialist list via this route are made to the GDC and are assessed by Specialist Advisory Committees (SACs). SACs are intercollegiate bodies that advise on higher specialist training in the dental specialties.

While we are accepting new applications, please note that they are not currently being assessed by the SACs. Until assessments restart, applications will not progress and, therefore, applicants will be unable to gain specialist listing.

Restarting the assessing of specialist list applications

After careful consideration, we have decided that the GDC will in future administer this process directly and we will also make changes for when considering appeals.

This will involve some amendments to ensure that we have the right capacity and capability within the GDC to manage this process. We also need to recruit assessors with the right specialist skills and experience needed to ensure applicants have met the high standards needed for admission to the specialty lists. We hope to work closely with the SACs to ensure that we identify appropriate assessors.

All of that will take some further time to put in place, but we currently expect to be able to restart the assessment of applications by the end of August 2023.

For a more detailed explanation of the steps we are taking to restart the assessments, please read the way forward on specialist list assessed applications.

Assessed application information

You will need to submit a separate application for each speciality you wish to apply for. Please download the appropriate application form below and read this application guidance.

Complete applications

Applications are only complete when all the documentation requested in the application form and guidance has been submitted. We always require original or certified copies of documentary evidence.

We also encourage applicants to be explicit with the evidence they submit for assessment. Evidence submitted for entry to a specialist list will be assessed on the basis of equivalence to the training leading to the award of a CCST.

Fees

All applicants need to submit a registration fee of £345 with each application. If you are applying for entry in November or December, you will also need to pay the annual specialty retention fee of £72 (per specialty) for the following year. Payment will be processed once an application has been confirmed as successful for the following year.

If you are enclosing original documents with your application and would like these returned by recorded delivery, please pay an additional £10 to cover these costs.