Overseas Dentists Now Outnumber UK Dentists on GDC Register – Latest Data

For the first time, overseas and international routes make up the majority of new joiners on the GDC dentist register, accounting for 53.1% of additions in 2025 against 46.9% from UK schools. The General Dental Council's 2025 Registration Statistical Report, published on 7 May 2026, also flags a five-fold increase in ORE capacity ahead, the launch of MyGDC for digital registration, and a 21% rise in dental therapists.

1,305 to 1,152. Those are the new dentist additions to the GDC register in 2025 by overseas and international routes versus the UK route, and 2025 is the first year overseas additions have crossed the line.

If you are an overseas-qualified dentist or DCP weighing whether to begin a UK pathway, the numbers in the GDC’s 2025 Registration Statistical Report matter to you.

What is the headline figure, and what does it actually mean?

At the end of 2025, 131,680 dental professionals were on the GDC register, a 4.7% increase on the 125,736 recorded in 2024.

The register continued a five-year rise from 114,782 in 2021. Within that, the number of dentists grew by 3.4% to 47,916, and Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) grew by 5.5% to 83,764. DCPs now make up 64% of the register; dentists 36%.

Among new dentist joiners in 2025, the split was: UK qualified 1,152 (46.9%), EEA qualified 679 (27.6%), Overseas Registration Examination 501 (20.4%), Licence in Dental Surgery 108 (4.4%), and Rest of world qualified 17 (0.7%).

Combined, overseas and international routes accounted for 1,305 of 2,457 new dentist additions, or 53.1%. As the GDC itself describes it, this was “a clear tipping point” in new additions to the dentist register.

The longer view shows how steep the change has been. UK-qualified dentists were 68.9% of the total register in 2021 and are now 65.9%. ORE-route dentists have climbed from 8.5% of the register in 2021 to 10.1% in 2025. The composition of the workforce is shifting in the direction of the international pathway, year on year.

The ORE is about to expand, and the LDS may follow

The most consequential line in the report, for any overseas dentist still planning a UK move, sits in the foreword. The GDC announced in March 2026 changes to the ORE that “could result in a five-fold increase in the number of internationally qualified dentists joining the register” via that route.

The GDC also notes anticipated increases in LDS exam places run by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Put plainly, the bottleneck that has held back many overseas dentists, exam capacity, is being widened. If you have been waiting for an ORE seat, or holding off on starting your preparation, the calculus is changing. We support candidates through this pathway via our ORE Application Support service and the ORE Exam Preparation Course for Overseas Dentists.

Dental nurses still dominate the register, and 96% of new ones are female

Dental nurses remain the largest single group on the register by a wide margin. Numbers rose by 5.1% in 2025 to 68,472, with 6,473 new dental nurse titles added in the year. Dental nurses now make up 47.9% of all registered titles, and 96% of those who joined the dental nurse register in 2025 were female.

For overseas-qualified candidates considering the UK Diploma in Dental Nursing route, the takeaway is straightforward. Demand from UK practices for trainee and qualified dental nurses keeps rising. A pattern we see across our 2200+ supported applications is that candidates who begin the dental nurse route while also planning their longer-term DCP or ORE pathway tend to settle into UK practice life faster than those who wait.

Dental therapists up 17.6%, hygienists up 7.6%, almost entirely from overseas qualifications

Two of the fastest-growing parts of the register in 2025 were dental therapists, up 17.6% to 8,661, and dental hygienists, up 7.6% to 11,292. The five-year trend tells the bigger story: dental therapists have nearly doubled since 2021 (4,408), while hygienists have grown from 8,312.

Behind those numbers sits a striking pattern. Of the 1,480 new dental therapist titles added in 2025, 1,044 (70.5%) came via the Rest-of-world qualified route. Of the 1,074 new dental hygienist titles added, 591 (55.0%) came via the same route. Across the full DCP register, rest-of-world qualified registrants now make up 5.1% of all DCPs, up from just 1.1% in 2021.

If you qualified overseas as a dentist and were planning to enter the UK register as a hygienist or therapist, two things are worth knowing. First, the historic route through which overseas-qualified dentists registered as a DCP (rather than going through the ORE) closed in March 2023.

The GDC reports that in 2025 it cleared the remaining 5,700-application backlog from that route, with some short-term timeliness impacts where appeals required original applications to be reopened. Second, the assessment route for genuinely overseas-qualified hygienists and therapists remains open, and current options are explained on our Alternative to ORE/LDS for overseas dentists page.

Dental technicians are shrinking for the sixth year running

Not every story in the 2025 report is one of growth. The number of registered dental technicians fell to 4,970, dropping below 5,000 for the first time and continuing a six-year decline from 5,319 in 2021. Only 143 dental technicians joined the register across the whole of 2025.

For overseas dental technicians considering UK registration, the contraction is worth understanding without overreading. A smaller register can mean stronger demand from UK laboratories for skilled, GDC-registered technicians. We continue to support overseas technician applications via our Overseas Dental Technician Registration service.

How fast is the GDC actually working through applications?

The 2025 report includes, for the first time, a dedicated section on registration timeliness, and the numbers cut against the common assumption that GDC processing is slow. The Registration function concluded 12,654 applications in 2025, down slightly from 12,978 in 2024. Targets were met or exceeded across all six UK and specialist routes.

The detail is sharper still. UK dentist applications averaged between 3 and 8 days from start to finish against a 14-day target across 2025. UK DCP applications ran between 4 and 14 days. Restorations to the register sat between 5 and 13 days.

EEA dentist applications averaged 11 to 18 days against a 60-day target. The overseas DCP assessment route improved dramatically through the year, from 231 days in January to 70 days by December, against an 80-day target.

The GDC also met all four PSA Standards for Registration in its 2024 to 2025 annual performance review. In our experience, the practical bottleneck is now squarely on the applicant side: gathering the Statement of Recognised Dental Qualification, the Certificate of Good Standing from your country of qualification, and English language evidence. Once your file is in, the wait is shorter than most candidates expect.

MyGDC has gone live

March 2026 also brought the launch of MyGDC, the regulator’s new online registration platform. The GDC describes it as allowing applicants to complete the registration process digitally for the first time, and as reducing the time it takes dental professionals to register or renew.

Renewals and applications that have historically depended on posted forms and document chains can now be handled in one place. For overseas candidates spread across time zones, this is a meaningful operational change.

Who actually makes up the UK dental workforce now?

The equality and diversity section of the report adds useful context for anyone planning a UK move. 78.3% of all dental professionals on the register identify as female, including 53.7% of dentists and 92.4% of DCPs. The dentist register is also diversifying by ethnicity: 31.0% of dentists are now of Asian or Asian British origin, up from 26.3% in 2021, while white-grouping dentists have fallen from 50.8% to 45.8% over the same five years. Among DCPs, 12.1% are now Asian or Asian British, up from 7.3% in 2021.

The age profile is also changing. The 22 to 30 dentist age group has seen a net positive growth of 1,617 over the past five years, the largest of any group. Among DCPs, the 22 to 30 age group grew by 2,714, and the 16 to 21 group by 1,166. The professions are getting younger and more international at the same time.

Theresa Thorp, the GDC’s Executive Director of Regulation, summarised the report’s purpose as giving “invaluable insight” for workforce planning, and pointed to the regulator’s 2026 to 2028 strategy, Trusted and Effective, which carries forward commitments on registration efficiency and equality, diversity and inclusion.

How UK.Dental can help

The UK.Dental team has guided 2200+ overseas dental professionals through GDC registration since 2019, and the 2025 data lines up with what we have been seeing in casework.

If you are a dentist qualified outside the UK, the combination of an expanded ORE, more LDS places, and MyGDC’s digital infrastructure makes this a sensible year to begin or restart your application.

Our ORE Application Support covers the registration end of the pathway, and our ORE Exam Preparation Course covers Part 1 and Part 2.

If you are a DCP applicant or a UK-based dental practice planning recruitment from these growing pools, you can book a private online consultation to map your specific situation against the current GDC routes.