A New Year, a new direction for dental regulation

As we embark on 2026, I'm excited to share our vision for the future of dental regulation, built on trust, collaboration, and a genuine commitment to supporting dental professionals.

2025: A year of listening and learning

Over the past 18 months, I've had the privilege of visiting dental settings across the UK. From the outreach teaching facility in the Cynon Valley in Wales and a dental laboratory in Oxfordshire, to dental schools, hospital settings and dental practices across the four nations, each visit further informed my understanding of how dental teams work, and their dedication and professionalism.

Each conversation with students and dental professionals has firmed up my understanding of the challenges you face and the changes we need to make. I'm grateful to all those who’ve hosted our visits so warmly and engaged in our discussions, including the Chief Dental Officers, who have welcomed me and shared their insights so openly.

Our new strategy: Trusted and Effective

In November 2025, we published our strategy for 2026-2028. The title ‘Trusted and Effective’ was chosen with great care. It’s not a description of the GDC today. It is our determined ambition for the GDC of the future. We want to be a trusted and effective regulator, supporting dental professionals to provide safe and effective care for their patients. We want to move away from a model of regulation that feels punitive and impersonal towards one that enables learning, encourages professionalism, and resolves issues quickly and proportionately.

The strategy has five objectives that will guide our work:

• Support dental professionals to provide safe and effective care for their patients.
• Maintain high standards for registration, and register those who meet them in a timely and effective way.
• Improve fitness to practise, maximising patient safety and reducing unintended impacts.
• Work collaboratively to speak up on, influence, and address issues that affect patients and the public.
• Maximise the effectiveness of our people, our culture and our systems.
  

Addressing the climate of fear

We know that fitness to practise investigations can take too long and can feel overly complex, often leading to feelings of mistrust, unfairness and more widely, a fear of the process and of the GDC. This can negatively impact the mental health and wellbeing of those involved.

The vast majority of dental professional and patient interactions are positive. The number of patient concerns raised with us each year is extremely small and only a very small minority of all kinds of cases are so serious that they result in the dental professional being removed from the register – just 18 in 2024, or 0.01% of the register.

In 2026, we'll focus on clearer communication, realistic timelines, and better support for everyone involved. From 2027, we'll explore less adversarial approaches to closing cases earlier through remediation that focuses on learning.

International registration

We have taken steps to address capacity challenges with the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE), completing a comprehensive procurement process for a new provider that will deliver increased capacity for both parts of the exam from mid-2026. We expect to double the number of internationally qualified dentists joining the register via the ORE.

The bigger picture

Our strategy addresses real challenges: the strain on access to dental services, particularly NHS services; the changing nature of dentistry with advances in digital technology and the rise of cosmetic procedures; and the need to meet the diverse needs of both professionals and patients.

We need to work collaboratively with governments, the dental professions, employers, education providers, and our partners across healthcare and regulation. Minister Stephen Kinnock’s recent speech at the Dental Leadership Network demonstrated the willingness for this kind of collaboration.

A personal commitment

I’m committed to continuing to build relationships based on trust and mutual respect. I promise to keep listening, visiting practices and dental schools, and using what I learn to shape regulation that supports you to provide safe and effective care.

Looking ahead

The GDC of 2030 that we're building will be fundamentally different from today. It will be an organisation that truly lives its values, that's trusted by the public and the professions, and that operates not just a regulator but as a collaborative partner.

Thank you for the work you do every day to care for patients across the UK. I'm looking forward to continuing this journey with you throughout 2026.