Apply to be restored to the Dental Council Register

Right to be restored

If you have previously advised us, on your annual practising certificate (APC) application form, that you wished to be removed from the Register, you can be restored to the Register at a later date without going through the full registration process.

You can also be restored to the register if we were unable to contact you, or you had not maintained a current practising status with the Council, and you have been removed from the Register under section 144(5) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.

In these situations, you can apply to have your entry to the Register restored if:

• you are fit to practise
• you are not subject to disciplinary proceedings
• your registration has not been cancelled by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.

If you can be restored, use the application process described below. If you are not sure whether you can be restored, contact us.

In all other circumstances you must submit a new registration application. See ‘I want to practise’ for more information about applying to be registered.

Application process if you can be restored

Apply online

Use our online services to apply to be restored, provide the requested documents and pay the associated fee.

Apply for restoration

The restoration fee

Arrange for certificates of good standing

If you have been practising overseas during the last seven years, you will need to arrange for an original certificate of good standing (COGS) that is no more than three months old to be submitted with your application. You will need a COGS from every dental jurisdiction in which you are or have been registered in during the last seven years, excluding New Zealand.

Satisfy the recency of practice requirements

If you are restored to the Register, you will need to apply for an APC if you wish to practise in New Zealand.

If you have not held an APC in the last three years, or you have not practised within that time, your application will be subject to our recency of practice policy. If this is the case, the Council must not issue you with an APC, unless it is satisfied that you meet the required standard of competence. 

In such cases, the Council will consider your APC application. If we are not satisfied that you meet the required standard of competence, we may propose to decline your application or to include or vary conditions on your scope of practice.