CPD for Dental Training Providers
If you deliver CPD to dental professionals and you're not sure whether your certificates will satisfy the GDC's enhanced CPD framework, that feeling is completely normal — it isn't a sign you're doing something wrong. The GDC doesn't endorse any external accreditation body for dental training, and no approved list of accreditors exists, however confidently some services market themselves as GDC-recognised. What actually counts is whether your certificate documents the aims, skills and outcomes of the course clearly enough for a registrant to use it in their own CPD cycle. That's a structural question, not a stamp you're missing.
What CPD accreditation actually means for a dental training provider
The GDC requires 100 hours of verifiable CPD over a five-year cycle for dentists, and 75 hours for dental care professionals, spread across the cycle rather than crammed in at the end. Within that, mandatory core subjects — medical emergencies, disinfection and decontamination, and radiography — apply to every registrant regardless of specialism. That's a demanding, specific framework, and it means a certificate for dental CPD has to do more work than a generic attendance record.
Since the GDC's enhanced CPD framework arrived in 2018, hours alone haven't been enough. Registrants need documented learning outcomes: what they set out to learn, and what they actually took away. That's precisely what an aims-skills-outcomes structure captures, whether the course covers implantology, orthodontics, facial aesthetics, sedation or practice management — the specialist territory independent dental trainers know best.
Many trainers assume they need sign-off from an external accreditation body before their CPD counts. The GDC doesn't endorse any such body, and no approved list exists — some services market themselves as GDC-recognised, but that endorsement has never existed. What satisfies the framework is a certificate that documents aims, skills and outcomes clearly, whoever issues it.
Open CPD offers a simple 3 step process for you
Run your implantology, sedation or practice management course as you already do.
Log in, set up the course profile, outcomes, hours, delivery mode, and accredit with one click.
Branded CPD certificates and digital badges are generated instantly for every learner.
What dental registrants and their practices actually check
A dental registrant compiling their five-year CPD record isn't looking for a familiar logo — they're looking for a certificate that will survive a GDC audit of their portfolio. Vague wording like 'attended a one-day course on implant placement' doesn't satisfy the enhanced CPD framework, however good the training actually was.
A permanent, checkable verification record changes what that certificate can do. It confirms the course happened, who ran it, and what the stated aims, skills and outcomes were — which is exactly the documentation a registrant needs when their CPD cycle is reviewed, with or without a third-party accreditor's stamp attached.
Each certificate resolves to an achievement page anyone can open, no login, no PDF attachment.
Your logo and course name lead. Certificates are powered by Open CPD, issued by you.
Once issued, the record is stored immutably and stays tamper-proof, the date and detail cannot drift.
How this plays out for dental training providers
Independent dental trainers are often experienced clinicians — a maxillofacial surgeon running implantology courses, a dentist teaching facial aesthetics — delivering specialist education no university short-course catalogue matches. The gap has never been the quality of what they teach. It's translating that expertise into a certificate that documents aims, skills and outcomes in the GDC's own terms.
Open CPD doesn't replace the GDC's own CPD requirements, and it was never meant to
Open CPD doesn't set dental CPD hours or mandatory core subjects — the GDC already does that, and its enhanced CPD framework is the standard your certificates need to meet. What Open CPD provides is the documentation layer: aims, skills and outcomes recorded against each course, verifiable independently, in a format registrants can drop straight into their own five-year CPD portfolio without translation.
Accredit your first dental CPD course this week
Ready to see exactly how the structure comes together — aims, skills, outcomes, and the verification record that ties it all together? [How It Works](https://open-cpd.com/how-it-works/) walks through the full mechanism. Or [start now](https://open-cpd.com/opencpddemo/) and set up your first dental course profile in minutes.