The Dental Council has advised that it accepts applications from any dentist who has been granted either temporary or permanent protection by the State, including individuals granted temporary protection due to the conflict in Ukraine.
The Dental Council has received almost ninety applications for registration from refugee dentists from a number of different countries. In order to process these applications, a new assessment process has been created by the Council, as well as a new mentorship programme whereby these dentists could practice under the mentorship of an established registered dentist. This mentorship process applies when deemed necessary by the Dental Council to gain all the requirements to obtain full registration, such as English language proficiency. These new processes were finalised in August 2022.
Experienced registration officers in the Dental Council are managing these applications, which are often complex because of missing information. There are six registration officers in the Dental Council. The Dental Council aims to deal with these information gaps in a way that is fair to the applicant and also protects the public. For this reason, the process is iterative, and the Council has needed to clarify information and assess responses. Therefore, the nature of the process has meant it has not been possible to track the average length of time for an application.
