How to check a dentist is on the GDC register (UK)

Last Updated on September 17, 2026

Every dentist, dental nurse, hygienist, therapist and technician in the UK must be on the General Dental Council register. Checking takes two minutes, is free, and needs only a name or GDC number at olr.gdc-uk.org/searchregister.

Checked on 11 September 2026.

Unlike most trades Whito covers, dentistry is not a “no licence exists” story. Practising dentistry without GDC registration is a criminal offence under the Dentists Act 1984, and “dentist” is a protected title. So the check is simple, the answer is binary, and there is no excuse for skipping it.

The check at a glance

What the register proves

• The person holds an accepted dental qualification. Each entry lists qualifications.
• They are currently entitled to work as a dental professional in the UK. The GDC says its job is to ensure “all dental professionals are registered before they work in the UK”.
• They are subject to the GDC’s standards and its fitness to practise process. A registrant can be suspended, struck off, or have conditions placed on their registration.
• The entry shows their registration number, registrant type, status, date first registered, current registration period and qualifications.

What the register does not prove

• Nothing about price. NHS and private fees vary widely and the register carries none of them.
• Nothing about waiting times or whether the practice is taking new NHS patients.
• Nothing about how good the dentistry is. Registration is a floor, not a rating.
• The GDC does not record whether a registrant is practising or retired, or whether they work in the NHS or privately. A valid entry does not mean the person is currently seeing patients.

The two-minute check, step by step

1. Go to the GDC register search at olr.gdc-uk.org/searchregister. Ignore lookalike “dentist checker” sites, the GDC’s own register is the only one that counts.
2. Search by GDC registration number if you have it (practices often print it on their website or in the surgery). Otherwise search by surname, and add the town to narrow it down. The tool also offers “sounds like” matching if you are unsure of the spelling.
3. Open the matching entry. Confirm the name matches the person treating you, and check the registrant type. A dental hygienist and a dentist are both legitimately registered, but they are allowed to do different things.
4. Read the status. You want a current registration. Anything else, a suspension, conditions, an erased entry, or no entry at all, means stop and ask questions. The GDC publishes fitness to practise decisions on gdc-uk.org if you want the detail behind a marked entry.
5. If someone claims a specialism, check the specialist lists. The same search tool lets you filter by specialty, including orthodontics, endodontics and oral surgery. Only dentists on the orthodontics specialist list may call themselves specialist orthodontists. A general dentist can legally provide aligner treatment, but “specialist” is a claim you can verify.

The person is one check. The practice is another

The GDC registers people, not buildings. In England, dental practices themselves are registered and inspected by the Care Quality Commission. CQC monitors, inspects and regulates dentists at service level, though it does not publish ratings for dental practices the way it does for GPs and care homes. You can look a practice up at cqc.org.uk. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own practice-level inspection bodies.

So a thorough check is two searches: the professional on the GDC register, the practice on the CQC register.

Red flags

• Tooth whitening from a beautician, salon or mobile “smile bar”. The GDC is explicit that offering tooth whitening without registration is illegal practice. No GDC number, no whitening, whatever the kit claims. Whito’s own study found that of 28 whitening advertisers checked, 20 were not dental practices.
• Aligners or “orthodontic” treatment with no named registered clinician. Someone on the GDC register must be responsible for your treatment. If a website will not name the clinician, walk away.
• “Dentist” or another dental title used by someone you cannot find on the register. The Dentists Act 1984 makes it an offence to hold yourself out as practising dentistry while unregistered. Report suspected illegal practice through gdc-uk.org.
• A GDC number that does not match the name. Numbers are personal. A borrowed or invented number is a reason to report, not negotiate.
• “Specialist” claims that fail the specialist list search. Verify, do not assume.
• Dentures made and fitted directly to the public by someone who is not a registered clinical dental technician or dentist. The GDC lists this as illegal practice.

For dental practices: publish the numbers

If you run a practice, make the check easy. Patients and, increasingly, AI assistants look for proof.

• List every clinician on your website with their full registered name and GDC number.
• State the registrant type accurately. A therapist listed as a dentist is a GDC standards problem, not a marketing choice.
• If you hold a specialist listing, say which list and link the GDC search.
• Show your CQC registration (England) on the site.

That is the whole job. It costs nothing and removes the doubt that loses nervous patients.

What this page does not cover

• How to choose between dentists, or whether a particular practice is any good.
• NHS versus private pricing, NHS band charges, or treatment plans.
• The complaints process in detail. Concerns about a registered professional go to the GDC, concerns about the service to the practice first, and NHS complaints have their own route.
• Dental professionals visiting from overseas under temporary registration, which the register handles separately.

Method and limits

Everything above comes from pages fetched on 11 September 2026: the GDC’s pages on its registers and on illegal practice, the online register search tool itself, section 38 of the Dentists Act 1984 on legislation.gov.uk, and the CQC’s dentists page. The list of registrant types and search fields is as shown on the search tool that day. How suspensions and conditions display on an individual entry was not tested against a live marked entry, so treat the exact wording as indicative and read the entry itself. Whito is not a regulator, and checking a register through Whito’s guides carries no official status. The GDC register is the authority.

Sources

• GDC: the registers. What the registers hold, daily updates, and the GDC’s legal duty under the Dentists Act to publish them.
• GDC register search. The search tool itself: fields, registrant types, specialist lists.
• GDC: illegal practice and reporting it. Activities restricted to registrants, including tooth whitening and dental titles, and how to report.
• Dentists Act 1984, section 38. The offence of unregistered practice and the penalty.
• CQC: dentists. Practice-level regulation in England, and the note that CQC does not publish ratings for dentists.

Related Whito research: UK teeth whitening v the GDC register, where 20 of 28 whitening advertisers checked were not dental practices.

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More guides for dentists: Whito’s dentists hub.

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