Pathways for gaining registration as a clinical dental technician in New Zealand

To apply to register as an oral health practitioner under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, you must meet these criteria:

• you must be fit for registration
• you must have a prescribed qualification
• if you don’t have a prescribed qualification, you must have a qualification that’s assessed as being equivalent to, or as satisfactory as, a prescribed qualification for your scope of practice
• you must be competent to practise within that scope of practice.

To apply for registration as a clinical dental technician you must first be registered as a dental technician.

How to register as a dental technician

Your qualifications may be recognised in New Zealand

You can apply for registration as a clinical dental technician if you have a prescribed qualification. 

Registering with a prescribed qualification.

A prescribed qualification is one that has been through a formal accreditation process to verify that it is of an appropriate quality and standard, either by us or another jurisdiction whose accreditation processes are recognised by us.  Prescribed qualifications are gazetted against the relevant scope of practice. 

To see if your qualification has been prescribed, refer to the list below.

Prescribed qualifications for clinical dental technician

If your qualification is not prescribed

If your overseas qualification is not prescribed, but you believe your qualifications, training and experience are equivalent to a prescribed qualification for clinical dental technology, you can apply for individual assessment.

Individual assessment of qualifications and experience

If you are registered in Australia, you may be eligible for Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition

If you are registered in Australia, you can register in New Zealand in a similar scope of practice, under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997.

Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition

Registration fees 

Please see our fees page for the applicable fees.