Advice for Dentists Seeking to Work in Northern Ireland

KMS Dental Recruitment – How can we help you?

If you are currently contemplating working as a dentist in Northern Ireland, then look no further. KMS Dental Recruitment can offer you all the help and support you will need to embark on an exciting new part of your dentistry career.

We have detailed below information that we feel you may find useful if you are considering finding a new dentistry job in Northern Ireland.

Please note KMS Dental Recruitment services to candidates are free and completely confidential.

Practicing Dentistry in Northern Ireland

Dentists practicing dentistry in Northern Ireland usually either work in a National Health Service (NHS) dental practice, where treatment is subsidised or free for patients, a private dental practice, where patients pay the full cost of treatment, or a mixed dental practice (NHS and Private).

Dentists in Northern Ireland predominantly provide a mixture of both NHS and private dental treatment as NHS patients also have access to additional private treatments. The dentist will usually receive 50% of their gross earnings based on the treatment they have provided.

Professional Registration

As Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom you must be registered with the General Dental Council (GDC). It is illegal to provide dental treatment to any individual in the UK without first being registered with the GDC. Generally all dentists that have qualified in an EEA country will be granted permission following registration. However there are some restrictions on certain EEA countries. For further information specific to your country of qualification please visit www.gdc-uk.org. For dentists that have qualified outside of the EEA please visit the GDC website for further advice on the options open to you.

Once you have secured a position within a practice providing National Health Service treatment you will then need to register with the relevant Local Heath Trust in Northern Ireland. The Local Heath Trust is ultimately responsible for the dentists that they allow to treat patients in their specific geographical area. As a consequence of this the Health Trust need to ensure that new dentists whether qualified in the UK or not can provide original documentation concerning qualifications and GDC registration, have a checkable work history, can provide references and have their records checked for documented criminal activity. This process can usually be completed within 4 weeks.