Overview:

The GDC is the regulatory body which regulates dentists in the UK. To practice in the UK, one requires registration with the GDC. There are two types of registration:

1. Full registration which you can gain on graduating from a UK dental school, or in most cases a European dental school, or by passing the Overseas Registration Examination. More guidelines can be found on the GDC website, including some alternative paths to full registration.
2. Temporary registration which is given by the GDC for a limited period of time, typically to work in secondary and tertiary care NHS hospitals. Please note, temporary registration does not lead to full GDC registration and can only be given for a maximum of 5 years.

Dental Core Training and Temporary Registration:

Getting a DCT post which is “suitable for temporary registration’’ makes you eligible for temporary registration with the GDC. It is important to note that not all DCT posts allow people to work on temporary registration, hence it is important to only choose those posts in the preference list on Oriel which are suitable for temporary registration. DCTNRO publishes an Excel sheet every year on the posts across the UK along with which posts are eligible for temporary registration. A copy of the Excel sheet can be downloaded from the following link:

Dental Core Training (DCT) | Dental Hub (hee.nhs.uk)

If a DCT post remains vacant after National Recruitment, it is sometimes recruited to locally. When that happens, the post will typically still be eligible for temporary registration, and the guidance in this document remains valid. However, in those cases, the employing Trust handles any visa requirements in place of NHS England’s national team. Locally recruited posts are advertised on local Trusts' websites and on websites like www.jobs.nhs.uk or www.trac.jobs.

Getting A DCT Post:

Dental Core Training is a program which allows dental graduates who have worked clinically as a dentist for at least 1 year after graduation to work in dental specialties and OMFS. DCT recruitment has two components, a situational judgement test (SJT) and an Interview. More information on acquiring a DCT post can be found on the DCTNRO Website below:

Dental Core Training (DCT) | Dental Hub (hee.nhs.uk)

Steps involved for applying for GDC registration:  

After you have successfully managed to secure a DCT post suitable for temporary registration, it is important to start your registration process with the GDC as soon as you receive your offer on Oriel as it can take some time. The following steps should be followed to apply for temporary registration:

1. Using the following website, fill the route to registration questionnaire Route to Registration (egdc-uk.org)
2. The answers to the questionnaire will look like this for someone who is applying for temporary registration. Click on the “Temporary Registration Application” at the end of the questionnaire and fill in your personal details.

The special circumstances criteria for applicants to Dental Core Training (DCT) and Dental specialty training (DST) has been extended to include applicants with parental responsibility for a child or children under the age of 18.

The Medical and Dental Recruitment and Selection (MDRS) and Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors (COPDEND) have announced the change which will come into effect for posts commencing in September 2023.

It will particularly support applicants who have family caring responsibilities which limit their ability to relocate and are therefore deterred from applying for a training post. 

Special Circumstance arrangements are in place for applicants who require a training placement in a certain area of the country. Currently these arrangements are in place for applicants with caring responsibilities for the registered disabled, as defined by the Equality Act 2010, or if they have a medical condition or disability which requires on-going follow up in a specified location.

This move will bring DCT and DST training into line with DFT and Pharmacy Foundation training.

Further information on the change

Information provided by: Mr RJ Spencer, Postgraduate Dental Dean, HEE working across Yorkshire and the Humber

DCT recruitment timetable – this lists the key dates in DCT recruitment including application deadlines and selection dates.

DCT Review Report and Executive Summary – this report was written by asking DCTs and trainers about their experience (good and bad points) in relation to Career Motivations, Preferences and Perceptions of Training. 

Summary of Study and Report by HEE – Sept 2019 - by Anne Begley, BAOMS Council member with DCT portofolio

Dental graduates appreciate their time in DCT as an extremely valuable training and education experience. Whilst there is no statutory or contractual requirement to complete DCT the time in these posts enables clarification of future professional career intentions. A period spent in DCT is requirement for entry into most dental specialty training programmes and is where the majority of OMFS trainees develop their taste for our specialty.

Most DCT posts across the UK are in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) Units in District General Hospitals and Teaching Hospitals. The remainder are in Dental Hospitals in a variety of specialties, with a few in the Salaried/Community Dental Service and General Dental Practice (GDP) posts. It is likely that over the next few years that further posts will be developed in primary dental care and academia with Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) posts at DCT level also being developed.

National Recruitment Office for DCT is HEE East Midlands.

• Current Timeline and Person Specifications for DCT 

DCT posts in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all included.

The Lead Dean for DCT is Andrew Dickenson Postgraduate Dental Dean for East Midlands.

DCT has had a curriculum since 2016. This also dictates the assessment framework to ensure standardisation and uniformity to quality assurance in the delivery of DCT in the many and varied settings. 

Silver Guide

The ‘Rule Book’ for DCT is the Silver Guide which links curriculum delivery to the assessment and employment framework.

The curriculum, assessment framework and national recruitment and delivery of an eportfolio was developed by a national working group appointed by COPDEND. The group included a number of OMFS surgeons and also formal representation from BAOMS. There is clearly a recognition that dental core training occurs in wide and varied settings.

• BAOMS Joint Position Statement
• Guidelines for DCT posts

These two documents have been agreed between BAOMS and COPDEND and provide a framework for current OMFS DCT posts and also for mutually agreed changes in these posts.

• Quality Indicators for DCT post

These draft Qis may be useful for units providing dental core training and educational supervisors. They are based on the BAOMS & COPDEND Guideline document.

As well as the important service provision delivered by this group, we need to be mindful that these young post graduates are dentists and that they (along with the medicine first trainees) are the future of our specialty. The majority of DCTs however will pass through our departments on their way to primary dental care, dental specialities, community dental services and many other career pathways taking with them the invaluable experience of working within an OMFS team. They will be our future referrers.

Dental Core Training will allow trainees to:

• Experience work and training in a different setting compared to DFT/VT
• Work in a supportive environment where they are adequately supervised, enabling them to learn through service delivery whilst ensuring that patients are not put at risk
• Practise within their own level of competence and to be provided with appropriate supervision and feedback to reach higher levels of competence in existing skills and into acquiring new skills
• Learn from many different supervisors in different settings
• Learn to manage patients referred from Primary Care
  • Patients with complex dental conditions.
  • Patients with complex medical conditions.
  • Patients with complex mental health/ psychiatric conditions
  • Patients with both complex medical and dental conditions
• Become part of a large multidisciplinary team
• Consolidate knowledge of clinical and organisational governance including audit
• Learn to communicate with a wide variety of different healthcare workers
• Work with experts in their field
• Participate in local learning opportunities e.g. lectures, tutorials, regional study days etc.
• Develop leadership skills
• Study and take postgraduate exams
• Present at local/regional meetings
• Learn many new clinical skills
• Maintain a portfolio of learning development and formative assessment
• Develop their preference of career choice 

The National Certification of Equivalence to Dental Core Training Year 2 Competencies

A process has been developed to facilitate applications to Specialty Training posts from individuals who have not followed a standard UK training pathway (Dental Foundation, Dental Core Training).  The process can also be used by applicants for DCT3 posts if they have not already undertaken a DCT2 post.

eFace is the eLearning For Health (eLfh) component which is targeted at those working in OMFS. It includes some information specifically aimed at Dental Core Trainees. There is an introduction to eLfH including general resources which will be of value to DCTs and also eFace which has modules specifically aimed at DCTs.

Although the eLogbook is aimed at OMFS specialty trainees (and Oral Surgery STs too) it also has a part designed to allow DCTs not working in OMFS to collect their activity in dentistry. After registering to use the log-book, click 'add an operation' and scroll down to the last part of the operation codes to 'zDental Core Training – Non OMFS/OS' (the z is needed to put this at the bottom of the drop-down list).

All the codes are recorded under 'Paediatric Dentistry' including 'Adult Dentistry' (because Paediatric Dentistry asked first).

Please see the eLogbook Top Tips 2019 - information and advice about using the eLogbook.

• Silver Guide
• UK Dental Core Training Curriculum

NHS Employers

All training posts have an employment contract and an educational contract. DCTs are employed under the 2016 Junior Doctors and Dentists Contract. Details about this employment contract are available at these links. DCTs and those supervising them should understand the responsibilities that the 2016 contract defines.

• Doctors and Dentists in Training
• Pay Circulars

Deaneries and Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs)

The educational contract is with the ‘Deanery’ which are Health Education England (HEE), Health Education in Wales (HEIW), NHS Education Scotland (NES) and the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA). Regional offices in England are called LETBs for example Health Education England Across the North West.

British Dental Association

Has interesting articles on DCT training. For those DCTs with dental qualifications they are also the ‘Trade Union’ who can represent dentists working in hospitals by using the services of the British Medical Association (BMA) Industrial Liaison Officers (ILOs).

• Advantages of Dental Core Training

British Medical Association

As mentioned above under BDA, the BMA provides the direct input to industrial relations problems for DCTs who are either members of the BDA or members of the BMA. Non-members of either organisation cannot use these services.

• Junior Doctors and Dentists Contract 2016 
• National Recruitment 2022
• COPDEND