After Passing the ORE: GDC Registration, Indemnity, the NHS Performers List, CPD, and Starting Your First Job in the UK

1. Applying for GDC Registration: The MyGDC Process

When the GDC releases your Part 2 results, you will be notified by email. If you have passed all four components, the GDC's notification will confirm your eligibility to apply for full registration. It is important to understand that passing the ORE and being registered are two separate events — passing the exam makes you eligible to apply; it does not automatically register you. You must actively submit a registration application.

From March 2026, new registration applications are submitted through MyGDC at mygdc.gdc-uk.org. The platform allows the entire process to be completed online for the first time. You will verify your identity using facial recognition technology (the GDC recommends using a mobile phone for this step), upload digital copies of your supporting documents, and track the progress of your application in real time through your account. You will receive notifications through the account when action is required.

The registration application requires: proof of identity (your current passport); confirmation that you have passed both parts of the ORE; evidence that you have appropriate dental indemnity or insurance in place (or a declaration that you will have it in place before you start practising); and any other documentation the GDC specifies based on your circumstances. For new ORE completers who are already approved candidates on the GDC's list, much of your background documentation will already be on file — but confirm with the GDC what additional documents are needed for registration specifically.

If you started your registration application on the old eGDC portal on or before 24 March 2026, the GDC advises submitting your required supporting documentation within three months of your application date. Applications started before that date are being managed through the transition period.

2. Annual Registration Obligations: ARF, Indemnity, and CPD Statements

Once you are on the GDC register, maintaining your registration requires annual action. Missing any of the three annual obligations — paying the ARF, declaring indemnity, and making a CPD statement — can result in removal from the register, which means you cannot legally practise until you are restored. Restoration carries additional fees and delays.

The Annual Retention Fee (ARF) for 2026 is £698 for dentists. The deadline for dentists is 31 December each year. You can pay annually by card, annually by direct debit (payment taken on or around 1 December), or quarterly by direct debit. The GDC confirmed in October 2025 that fees will be adjusted from 2027 onwards in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), except in exceptional circumstances. When you are newly registered, the GDC's registration fee page specifies that the fee payable is prorated from the month you register through to the end of the registration year — it does not cover a full year. Dentists registering in November or December must also pay the full ARF for the following year.

The indemnity declaration must be made annually as part of the renewal process. You declare that you have appropriate indemnity or insurance in place to cover your dental practice. If you are employed by a practice, this may be covered under the practice's indemnity arrangement — confirm this with your employer before relying on it. If you practise as a principal or associate, you will typically hold your own individual indemnity policy.

Your CPD statement must be submitted to the GDC by 28 January each year (for the preceding calendar year). Your first CPD cycle begins on the date of your registration and runs for five years. As a newly registered dentist, you must declare your CPD hours annually and ensure you meet both the per-two-year minimum (10 hours verifiable CPD) and the five-year cycle minimum (100 hours verifiable CPD). The annual statement is made through MyGDC.

3. CPD in Your First Five Years: Requirements in Detail

Your CPD cycle starts on the date of your first registration with the GDC and runs for five years. The GDC's Enhanced CPD Scheme applies to all dental professionals from their first cycle. As a dentist, your requirements are: a minimum of 100 hours of verifiable CPD over the five-year cycle, and a minimum of 10 hours of verifiable CPD across any consecutive two-year period within the cycle.

Verifiable CPD is CPD that can be evidenced by a certificate from a provider. The certificate must detail the CPD subject, learning content, aims and objectives, anticipated GDC development outcomes, and confirmation that it has been quality assured. You must retain these certificates for at least five years after the end of the cycle in which the CPD was completed. The GDC monitors compliance through random sampling and will request evidence if you are selected.

The GDC's recommended CPD topics are not mandatory but are strongly advised. For dentists, recommended topics include medical emergencies (minimum 10 hours per five-year cycle, ideally two hours per year), radiography and radiation protection (five hours per cycle), and disinfection and decontamination (five hours per cycle). The GDC simplified its CPD documentation requirements in March 2025 — registration numbers are no longer mandatory on CPD certificates, and digital confirmations are now accepted for mapping documents.

A key practical point for newly registered dentists: you cannot count CPD completed before your registration date towards your first GDC cycle. The cycle starts from registration. However, many CPD activities you undertook for ORE preparation — medical emergencies training, radiography certification, infection control training — may overlap with what counts as verifiable CPD, so ensure you obtain certificates from providers for any relevant training completed during the registration year.

4. The NHS Performers List: What It Is and How to Join

GDC registration is the requirement to practise dentistry at all in the UK. However, NHS dental work in primary care — the kind performed in high street dental practices with NHS contracts — requires an additional step: inclusion on the NHS Dental Performers List, maintained by NHS England (or its equivalents in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland).

In England, the Performers List was historically accessed by internationally qualified dentists through the Performers List Validation by Experience (PLVE) scheme. From April 2023, NHS England changed this process. New applicants who are not exempt from foundation training are no longer assessed through a separate PLVE application form. Instead, they are invited to engage in a structured conversation process conducted jointly by an NHS England Dental Advisor and a representative of Postgraduate Dental Deans. There is no application fee payable to NHS England for this process. The structured conversation assesses the applicant's knowledge, skills, and experience and determines whether they have demonstrated equivalence to a dentist who has satisfactorily completed foundation training.

The outcome of the structured conversation may be: confirmation that the applicant demonstrates the required equivalence and can join the Performers List; a recommendation that the applicant undertakes a period of supervised NHS practice before full inclusion; or a requirement for formal Dental Foundation Training. The period of supervised practice recommended (where required) ranges from a minimum of three months for candidates with extensive recent NHS-equivalent experience, to a maximum of twelve months for those who need more substantial preparation.

To begin the process, you apply for a performer number through Primary Care Support England (PCSE) at pcse.england.nhs.uk. PCSE will direct you to the appropriate NHS England team for the structured conversation. You must already hold GDC full registration before applying for Performers List inclusion.

5. Private Practice vs NHS: Choosing Your First Employment

One of the first career decisions you will face after registration is whether to seek employment in NHS or private dental practice, or a mix of both. There is no correct answer — the right choice depends on your clinical experience, financial situation, personal preferences, and the specific roles available to you.

NHS practice: The NHS dental contract in England operates on a Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) system, though reforms announced in 2026 are beginning to shift parts of this. NHS practices typically offer a predictable patient flow, established administrative infrastructure, and the experience of working within the UK's primary care dental system. For internationally qualified dentists who are new to the UK, NHS practice provides structured exposure to the full range of patients and conditions you will encounter in UK primary care. The trade-off is that NHS contract remuneration has been a major source of professional dissatisfaction, and many practices are finding it difficult to fulfil contracts while maintaining viable businesses.

Private practice: Private dental practice is immediately accessible upon GDC registration — it does not require Performers List inclusion. Private practices vary enormously in their casemix, patient demographics, and quality of support for newly registered dentists. Remuneration in private practice is typically higher in absolute terms, but patient flow may be less predictable, especially when building a new patient list. For dentists who trained in systems where private practice is the norm, private practice may feel more familiar.

Mixed practice is the most common arrangement in the UK — most practices carry both NHS and private patients. Starting in a mixed practice as an associate gives you exposure to both environments and keeps your options open. The BDA strongly recommends joining before accepting any employment — their employment advice service, contract review, and associate agreement guidance are particularly valuable for newly registered dentists who may be unfamiliar with UK associate agreements and the specific obligations they create.

6. Joining the BDA and Professional Membership

The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional body and trade union for dentists in the UK. Membership is not a GDC requirement, but it is the most practical step you can take to protect yourself professionally in your first years of UK practice. The BDA provides employment contract review, industrial relations support, legal guidance, indemnity liaison, CPD resources, and access to the BDA Indemnity scheme for qualifying members.

For newly registered ORE completers, the BDA's specific value includes: access to their employment advisory service to review associate agreements before you sign them; their practice guide for new associates explaining UK-specific employment norms that may differ from your country of training; core CPD content available to members online that counts towards your GDC CPD obligation; and the BDA's guidance on NHS contract obligations for associate dentists, which is updated as NHS contract reforms are implemented.

The BDA also offers specialist interest groups (including Overseas Graduates) and regional branches that can help you build professional networks in your local area. For dentists new to UK practice, the professional isolation of starting in an unfamiliar system can be significant — peer networks from BDA regional groups and special interest groups provide practical support that goes beyond formal guidance.

7. What to Expect in Your First Year of UK Practice

Dentists who trained outside the UK consistently report that the first year of UK practice involves a significant adjustment period, regardless of their prior clinical experience. The key adjustment areas are administrative, regulatory, and systemic rather than purely clinical.

The NHS documentation and treatment planning framework is specific to the UK system. Understanding how to complete NHS dental forms, how to code treatments under the UDA or (from 2026) the new payment framework, and how to navigate NHS prescription requirements takes time to learn. Most practices provide internal training for this, but the learning curve is real — and errors in NHS administration can have financial and compliance consequences.

The GDC's Standards for the Dental Team set out the ethical and professional obligations of dental professionals in the UK. While the clinical standards are universal, the specific regulatory culture — including the GDC's approach to fitness to practise, the emphasis on documented consent and information provision, and the expectations around raising concerns — may differ from what you experienced in your country of training. The GDC's Standards for the Dental Team document is freely available and should be read in full before your first day in practice.

From a clinical perspective, the UK patient population presents a full range of dental conditions but with a particular profile shaped by NHS dentistry history — patients who have delayed treatment due to access difficulties, complex restorative cases from missed earlier interventions, and a high burden of periodontal disease. The clinical exposure during ORE preparation will have given you a flavour of what to expect, but the day-to-day reality of primary care dental practice in a busy UK setting may feel intensive during the first months.

Related ORE articles

References

• General Dental Council — MyGDC goes live (March 2026) | MyGDC confirmed as replacement for eGDC from March 2026; facial recognition identity verification; no postal originals required; existing eGDC accounts migrated; application tracking in real time; 15-working-day processing target.
• General Dental Council — GDC opens annual renewal period for dentists (November 2025) | ARF £698 for 2026; CPD statement due 28 January; indemnity declaration required; CPD scheme changes from March 2025 (simplified documentation, registration numbers no longer mandatory on certificates).
• General Dental Council — CPD scheme guidance | Annual CPD statement process via MyGDC; certificate requirements for verifiable CPD; retention requirements; 10-hour minimum per two-year period confirmed.
• College of General Dentistry — GDC development outcomes | Dentists: minimum 100 hours verifiable CPD per 5-year cycle; recommended topics including medical emergencies (10 hrs/cycle), radiography (5 hrs/cycle), decontamination (5 hrs/cycle).
• NHS England / COPDEND — Guidance for International Dental Graduates | Structured conversation process from April 2023 replacing PLVE application form; no fee payable to NHS England; conducted by NHS England Dental Advisor and Postgraduate Dental Deans; assessment against foundation training equivalence criteria.
• NHS Careers — Information for overseas dentists | GDC registration required before Performers List application; NHS primary care requires Performers List; GDC registration does not grant right to work in UK without visa/immigration clearance; overseas dentists may need up to 1 year foundation training for NHS.