Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists from overseas have (a) completed their overseas exams in the last 12 months and are practicing in the NHS and (b) are waiting to sit their exams to practice in the NHS.

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent statutory regulator of dentists and dental care professionals in the United Kingdom. During the period 1 January to 31 December 2022, 160 overseas-qualified dentists passed its Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) and were added to its register, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports.

Neither the GDC nor the Department holds data on whether a registrant is practising in the National Health Service or privately.

As of 27 July 2023, the number of candidates currently in the ORE system and eligible to take the exam are 1,579 for Part 1 and 470 for Part 2. However, it is not known how many of these candidates are actively seeking to complete both parts of the ORE and proceed to become registered with the GDC.

Once they enter the ORE system, candidates will proceed through it at different rates, depending on when they are ready to progress to each stage, or whether they want to complete the process at all.