FAQ: Specialist registration

The Board’s Specialist registration standard requires applications for specialist registration to have:

• completed a minimum of two years general dental practice (this requirement may be achieved by experience outside Australia, subject to assessment and approval by the Board), and 
• meet all other requirements for general registration as a dentist.

These other requirements are described in the Board’s relevant registration standards.

All dentists who wish to apply for specialist registration must have general registration and be on the Register of practitioners under the division of dentists.

There are a small number of specialists who, because of the previous legislative framework that existed in one jurisdiction prior to the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme), are registered only on the Board’s Specialists Register. These specialists must restrict the scope of their practice to the specialty or field of specialist practice in which they hold registration and to their education, training and current competence.

You need to complete and submit the relevant application form (ASAQ-20).

Information on the registration process is available on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website.

You need to apply for both general registration as a dentist and specialist registration in your specialty. Your application for general registration will be assessed first. Find more information on how to apply for general registration as a dentist.

You will need to complete and submit application form (ASEQ-20) if you want to apply for specialist registration in:

• dento-maxillofacial radiology 
• endodontics 
• forensic odontology
• oral medicine
• oral and maxillofacial pathology 
• oral surgery
• orthodontics 
• paediatric dentistry 
• periodontics 
• prosthodontics
• public health dentistry (community dentistry), and
• special needs dentistry.

For more information on this pathway to specialist registration, see the Qualification equivalence pathway page.

If you are registered with the Dental Council (New Zealand) and hold a current annual practising certificate for this specialty, you can apply for specialist registration under the Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Act (TTMR).

To apply for mutual recognition as a dental practitioner under the TTMR Act, make an online application.

The Board will assess your application for specialist registration under TTMR and ensure that your application is for an ‘equivalent occupation’ in Australia.

The Board's Scope of practice registration standard applies to all practitioners registered with the Board. This requires dental practitioners to practise within the scope of their education, training, and competence at all times.

The Board may impose conditions on your registration if this is required to make your occupation equivalent to an Australian occupation. For example, the scope of practice for an occupation may be narrower in New Zealand than in Australia, and the Board may impose conditions on your Australian registration to ensure that you only do work equivalent to the work you perform under your New Zealand registration.

The Board may also impose conditions that are the same as those applying to your New Zealand registration.

The Board and the Dental Council (New Zealand) (the Council) have 11 specialties in common.

The following specialties are recognised by the Board but not by the Council:

• dento-maxillofacial radiology, and 
• forensic odontology.

The following specialty is recognised by the Council but not by the Board:

• restorative dentistry.