About the Dental Council
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Oral Health practitioner register Practitioner portal
Oral Health practitioner register Practitioner portal

New graduate pathway - University of Otago, AUT or RACDS

This pathway is for applicants who have a Dental Council accredited qualification delivered by the University of Otago, Auckland University of Technology or Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons in the past 12 months.

You can apply for registration once your transcript confirming that you have completed the requirements of your programme is available in My eQuals.

In your application form you will be asked to indicate your practising intentions. If you intend to practise in New Zealand, you must ensure you have been granted both registration and a practising certificate before you start practising.

If you won’t be practising immediately, you can select ‘non-practising’ to have your name retained on the register. However it is important to start practising within 12 months of completing your qualification to ensure continuity of the skills you attained during your studies.

You will need to share your qualification or academic transcript with the Dental Council via your My eQuals learner portal and upload the following to your application:

  • Verification of identity document – including the following certified by the same certifier:
    • Certified passport or New Zealand driver licence
    • Certified passport photo.
  • Please ensure your full name as recorded on your identification is recorded on the back of the passport photo.
  • If there is a variation between the name on your legal identification and that of your qualification you may need to provide a statutory declaration or other evidence of your name change.
  • Your verification of identity form, and any evidence supporting name will also need to be couriered to the Dental Council office in hard copy, or posted to our PO Box address.
  • Laboratory report with the following blood borne virus results dated within 3 months of your application:
    • Hepatitis C antibody
    • HIV antigen and antibody
    • Hepatitis B surface antigen1
    • Hepatitis B surface antibodies1.
  • If you are already registered with the Dental Council in another scope, you will not need to provide blood borne virus results or the verification of identity form with your application.

1 Alternatively we can accept an older hepatitis B surface antigen and surface antibody result if that result indicated immunity.

This pathway is for applicants who completed a New Zealand accredited specialist training programme in the past 12 months and have been awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (RACDS) in their specialty. 

You can apply for registration once your Fellowship qualification has been formally confirmed by the RACDS. You will need to upload a copy of the Fellowship qualification, and provide a certified copy of the Fellowship qualification to the Dental Council via courier or post. 

In your application form you will be asked to indicate your practising intentions. If you intend to practise in New Zealand, you must ensure you have been granted both registration and a practising certificate before you start practising in your specialty.

If you won’t be practising immediately, you can select ‘non-practising’ to have your name retained on the register. However it is important to start practising in your specialty within 12 months of completing your qualification to ensure continuity of the skills you attained during your studies.

If you are already registered with the Dental Council in another scope, you will not need to provide blood borne virus results or the verification of identity form with your application. 

Health New Zealand runs a voluntary bonding scheme to encourage newly qualified health professionals to:

  • work in the communities and practices that need them most
  • keep essential health professionals in New Zealand
  • increase Māori and Pasifika within the health workforce.

Apply here for registration

If you have collated the required documents and are ready to apply for your registration and annual practising certificate, you can apply by creating an account in the practitioner portal.

All registration and annual practising certificate applications are managed through the portal.

Apply here for registration