The General Dental Council (GDC) has confirmed the dates of further sittings of the overseas registration exam (ORE).
This comes as the GDC is currently progressing a large-scale procurement process to award new contracts for both ORE parts. The regulator hopes to announce the new contract awards in autumn this year.
The additionally ORE sittings, which build on those delivered in the first half of this year, will take place while the GDC continues the procurement process to ensure exam availability is maintained during the transition.
The new dates will be held in late 2025 and early 2026, providing an extra 1,800 places on ORE Part 1 and 576 on ORE Part 2.
ORE Part 1 – 600 places per sitting:
- August 2025
- December 2025
- April 2026.
ORE Part 2 – 144 places per sitting:
- September 2025
- November 2025
- January 2026
- April 2026.
The exact dates for each sitting will be confirmed by the regulator in due course. All eligible candidates will be contacted directly with more information.
Candidate demand
Theresa Thorp is the GDC’s executive director of regulation. She said: ‘We understand how important the ORE is for those seeking to register as dentists in the UK.
‘These sittings are part of our efforts to respond to candidate demand and ensure continued access to the exam while longer-term arrangements are put in place.
‘The GDC remains committed to supporting candidates throughout this process and will continue to provide timely updates.’
This comes as the GDC introduced a new policy granting priority ORE booking access to dental professionals with refugee status earlier this year.
This will allow candidates who provide evidence of their refugee status to receive priority access to the booking system for up to two attempts at both ORE parts. According to the regulator, this will ensure they have a fair chance of completing the registration process.
In an in-depth article, we explore how the overseas registration exam works, the profession’s experience of it and how it can be improve. You can read it here.
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