The General Dental Council (GDC) has agreed to new rules for registering internationally qualified dental care professionals from March 9, 2024. A new application processing fee for overseas-qualified professionals who want to sit the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) has also been agreed upon.

The application processing fee has been set (in line with the regulator's fees policy) at a level that covers the cost of processing only. This is when the GDC checks on qualifications, character, clinical experience, and English language competence before adding someone to the ORE candidate list.

The GDC proposed introducing an ORE application processing fee in its consultation on international routes to registration for dentists and dental care professionals. A suggestion that was supported by a majority of respondents.

Candidates currently pay an examination fee for each sitting of the ORE, including any retakes. The GDC will hold examination fees at current levels until the end of 2024 (under transitional arrangements, which end on December 31, 2024), around the time that the current ORE contracts end. These examination fees were set at their current levels nine years ago.

New examination fees will be in place from January 1, 2025, based on the recovery of current costs. The regular also noted that revising examination fees when new contracts are in place in 2025 may be necessary to ensure fees align with the contract’s arrangements.

From 2023 to 2024, the GDC established new rules for the registration of internationally-qualified dentists and dental care professionals, tripled the number of ORE Part 1 places, increased capacity in the ORE Part 2 by a third and gathered evidence from stakeholders to inform the future delivery of effective, robust and timely exams. Public safety and confidence in dental professions remains the GDC’s primary concern.

A procurement exercise for new ORE contracts is about to begin, with early engagement with potential suppliers underway in what is now a new market. This was made possible by the legislation changes in 2023, which removed the previous financial and supplier constraints.

Gurvinder Soomal, interim chief executive officer and registrar, said, “The aim of these reforms is to create a modern system of international registration which is fair to applicants, efficient to deliver, and above all is rigorous in protecting patients.

“This marks an important step on the way to a comprehensive framework for international registration, but there is still more to do with a complex combination of legislative, contractual and operational changes needed to support the current and future demand for registration.”

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