The General Dental Council’s Annual Report and Accounts 2025 places fitness to practise activity at the centre of its regulatory narrative, outlining a year marked by higher volumes of concerns, faster case progression and continued efforts to make the system less intimidating for dental professionals.
The regulator received 1,766 fitness to practise concerns during 2025, a sharp 26% increase on the previous year. Despite this rise, the GDC reports improvements in early-stage decision‑making, with 19% of concerns closed at the initial assessment stage — the highest proportion in four years. This reflects ongoing work to resolve lower‑risk issues more quickly and reduce unnecessary escalation.
Case progression remained broadly stable even as volumes increased. Of every 100 concerns received, 81 moved to assessment, 34 reached case examiners and 15 proceeded to a Practice Committee hearing. The number of hearings rose significantly, with 110 held during the year — a 50% increase compared with 2024. However, removals from the register remained low, with 18 dental professionals removed, representing just 0.01% of registrants.
Timeliness across the fitness to practise process improved. The average time to reach a final case examiner decision fell from 50 working weeks to 36, and the period between case examiner decisions and hearings reached its lowest point in five years. The GDC attributes these gains to ongoing reforms aimed at making investigations more proportionate, transparent and less adversarial.
The report acknowledges that fear of the fitness to practise process remains a significant issue within the dental sector. However, the regulator emphasises that faster decision‑making, clearer triage and more early closures are helping to reduce the burden on professionals while maintaining public protection.
Dr Helen Phillips, Chair of the GDC, said:
“Transparency is an essential ingredient of good governance. Our Annual Report and Accounts provide clarity on what we achieved in 2025 and thej udgements we made to ensure good financial management while also delivering our commitments.”
Tom Whiting, Chief Executive of the GDC, said:
“Our engagement with dental professionals over the past year has proved hugely important. This engagement has undeniably helped us to shape our new strategy. The time spent listening and understanding the issues was invaluable.
“We want to regulate modern dentistry, be more agile to understand and respond to changes in how dentistry is delivered, so that dental professionals can practise safely using modern and innovative digital technology.”
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