The GDC has published a revised Scope of Practice guidance document, which will come into effect on 1 November 2025.
The document is the result of a consultation and stakeholder discussion process.
Read about the discussion process.
It has two sections: one explaining the underlying principles of the guidance, and the other one outlining the scope and the boundaries for each of the professional groups.
There have been no changes to the actual scope of practice for any registrant groups.
The focus of the first section is an outline of how to consider a registrant’s scope of practice – their pre-registration training, additional training throughout their career, and how to consider the guiding principle of being trained, competent and indemnified to undertake any given activity.
The second section is profession-specific and outlines the role within the dental team, an overview of the clinical activities, and the boundaries of each professional title.
The guidance document is less prescriptive in the specific tasks for each group than its predecessor, to allow flexibility for future developments in training and learning outcomes. It does not, however, permit an extension of current scope.
We expect that the changed approach to the guidance document, while welcome, will lead to questions from professionals seeking clarity on specific questions, and we hope that the GDC’s commitment to developing additional supplementary guidance on specific topics identified during the consultation period will be followed through without delay.
The GDC is providing online information sessions for all dental professionals to explain the changes and answer questions.
Book online sessions about understanding the updated Scope of Practice guidance from the GDC.
We advise all members to familiarise themselves with the new approach to this guidance before 1 November 2025. The Association and our indemnity team will be happy to help members with questions about scope of practice matters as usual. We will also collect member feedback on the new version over time and relay this to the GDC as appropriate.