The General Dental Council (GDC) improved its performance in three of the four stages of the fitness to practise process, according to its annual Fitness to Practise Statistical Report for 2025.
For the first time, the report covers all four stages of the fitness to practise process: initial assessment, assessment, case examiners, and hearings. It includes comparison data from previous years and breaks down cases by informant type, country, registrant type, sex, time on the register, region of qualification, and ethnicity.
The report demonstrates progress against the GDC’s strategy, Trusted and effective: A strategy for dental regulation 2026-2028, which acknowledges that a climate of fear has grown within dentistry, driven in part by mistrust of the FtP process. The strategy commits to less adversarial ways of handling concerns, resolving them quickly and proportionately, and reducing the impact of investigations on dental professionals’ mental health and wellbeing.
Theresa Thorp, Executive Director of Regulation at the GDC, said:
“We know that fitness to practise investigations can take too long, feel overly complex, and cause real fear and distress. While the rise in concerns is a trend we’re seeing across healthcare regulation, our focus remains firmly on reducing that fear and improving the experience for everyone involved.
“Despite receiving 26% more concerns in 2025, we reduced the time to reach a final case examiner decision from 50 working weeks to 36, and the time from case examiner decision to Practice Committee hearing is now at its lowest in five years. That progress matters, but we know fear of the process remains real, and we’re determined to continue our work to address it.”
Key findings at a glance
The GDC received 1,766 concerns in 2025, a 26% rise on the previous year. Of every 100 cases received, on average 81 progressed to assessment, 34 to case examiners, and 15 to a Practice Committee hearing.
The regulator completed 1,293 assessments in 2025, almost identical to the 1,294 completed in 2024, and held 110 Practice Committee hearings, a 50% increase on the 73 held in 2024. It removed 18 dental professionals from the register, the same number as in 2024, representing 0.01% of all registered dental professionals.
In 2025, the GDC closed 19% of new concerns at the initial assessment stage, more than at any point in the previous four years, reflecting its work to identify and resolve less serious concerns earlier in the process.
Completion times fall to five-year low
The assessment caseload rose by 35% to 761 open cases by year end, a direct result of the surge in concerns received. The number of case examiner decisions rose by 9% on 2024, yet the GDC still reduced the time it took to complete cases at every stage of the FtP process.
The average time to complete the assessment stage increased from 76 working weeks in 2024 to 78 in 2025. However, the average time from assessment decision to final case examiner decision dropped from 50 working weeks to 36. The time from final case examiner decision to an initial Practice Committee hearing dropped from 81 working weeks to 57, its lowest in five years.
A streamlined approach for single patient clinical concerns has almost halved the time to complete the assessment stage for these cases, from 30 to 16 weeks. The average time from the decision to refer to an initial Interim Orders Committee hearing rose slightly, from 16 to 19 working days.
Sources and types of concerns
Patients remain the largest single source of concerns, making up 45% of all concerns received in 2025, though that proportion dropped from 51% in 2024 despite the actual number of patient concerns rising by 86. Those acting in a public capacity, including employers and NHS bodies, raised 54 more concerns in 2025 than in 2024. Whistleblower referrals almost doubled, rising from 3% to 5% of all concerns received.
Dentists made up 77% of all concerns, with the remaining 23% relating to dental care professionals (DCPs). Concerns about dental professionals who had been on the register for less than five years grew from 19% in 2024 to 22% in 2025.
The proportion of concerns relating to UK-qualified dentists dropped below 60% for the first time, to 57.5%, reflecting the growing number of internationally qualified dentists joining the register. Concerns relating to EEA-qualified dentists increased by 36%, the sharpest rise of any group, while those relating to overseas-qualified dentists increased by 32% compared to 2024.
Interim Orders Committee
The GDC referred 149 registrants to the Interim Orders Committee in 2025, more than in any of the last three years. Of those, 70% resulted in an order being placed on the registrant’s registration, up from 62% in 2024. Cases combining clinical and conduct issues were the most common type referred, with 83% resulting in an order.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
The report publishes detailed EDI analysis, which the GDC uses to identify any issues of discrimination, bias, or racism in the reporting or referral of FtP concerns, and to ensure its own processes remain fair. Asian or Asian British dentists make up 31% of the register but made up 36% of new concerns received in 2025.
Dentists who identified as White make up 46% of the register and made up 35% of new concerns. Since 2022, the proportion of assessment stage cases closed for dentists who identified as White dropped from 42% to 35%, while the proportion closed for dentists who identified as Asian or Asian British increased from 26% to 36% over the same period.
The full report is available here.
