Illegal practice and how to report it

Illegal practice is when someone who is not registered with the GDC offers or provides dental services. This includes tooth whitening and fitting dentures. It is also illegal for someone to use a dental professional title if they are not registered to practise dentistry.

What is illegal practice?

Illegal practice might include unregistered, erased or suspended individuals who:

offer dental treatment or advice
offer tooth whitening
make or fit dentures directly to the public
call themselves dentists or other dental titles
receive payment for dental treatments or advice.

It also includes companies who receive payment for dental treatments or advice where the majority of directors are not registered with us.

How to report illegal practice

If you believe someone is practising illegally, you can report it to us:

online: report illegal or unregistered practice, or
in writing: Illegal Practice, General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ

Please provide as much detail as possible to help us investigate fully, including:

your name, address and contact details
the full name and address of the person or company you wish to complain about (if known)
the nature of the query or complaint
an explanation of what happened and the date it happened
details of any patient harm suffered
details of any action you have already taken
any other information which you feel could be useful