Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the General Dentistry Council on restarting the assessment of overseas qualified dentists who wish to join the Oral Surgery Register.

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals practising in the United Kingdom.

The Department does not hold data on the length of time it takes the GDC to process applications to its register by overseas qualified dentists. This data is held by the GDC.

I have not had any discussions with the GDC about the resumption of its assessment process for overseas qualified dentists who wish to join the GDC’s register. This process resumed in January 2022 after safety restrictions brought in as part of the COVID-19 response made it necessary to suspend it in April 2020.