DHA Licence for Dentists
A DHA licence for dentists is the registration you need to practise dentistry on Dubai mainland. Classification decides your application, as it does for doctors: general dental practitioner or specialist. If your specialty is surgical, oral and maxillofacial surgery in particular, the two-year logbook requirement applies to you.
Does the surgical logbook requirement apply to you?
Dentistry sits across the line that DHA draws for surgical specialties, and that is the thing dental applicants most often get wrong about their own file.
Surgical specialties must submit a logbook covering the last two years, stamped and signed by the medical director. A dentist in oral and maxillofacial surgery is plainly within that. A dentist in a specialty with a substantial surgical component is a question to put to DHA rather than to answer for yourself.
The reason to settle it early is practical. The logbook needs a signature from a director at a practice or hospital you may have left, covering a period you have to reconstruct. Discovering you need one at submission is a delay measured in weeks, not days.
What does DHA require of dentists?
Dental applications are assessed against DHA's published qualification requirements, which distinguish between general and specialist dental titles.
Use the free Sheryan self-assessment before you pay for anything. For dentists it establishes whether your specialty qualification maps to a specialist title or whether you would be licensed as a general dental practitioner.
- A recognised primary dental qualification
- Specialty qualifications, where you are applying under a specialist title
- Current registration with the dental council or authority you practise under
- Post-qualification clinical experience evidenced by signed certificates
- [VERIFY: the qualifications DHA accepts for each dental specialist title, and the minimum post-qualification experience at each.]
What exam do dentists take?
A Prometric assessment set for dentistry, and set for your specialty where you are applying under a specialist title.
Some qualifications and titles are exempt from assessment. Establish your position before booking, because the fee is non-refundable and payable again in full on a reattempt.
[VERIFY: DHA examination blueprint, question count, duration and pass mark for this profession and its specialties. Obtain from DHA before publishing any figure.]
Why no single question count applies across professions, and what to ask your authority instead, is covered on our Prometric explainer.
What documents do dentists need?
What to assemble, with the items specific to dentists marked by what they have to establish.
- Passport and photograph to the authority specification
- Primary dental qualification, attestedAttested in the country that issued it.
- Specialty qualifications and certificatesThese decide whether you are licensed as a specialist or a general dental practitioner.
- Academic transcripts
- Current dental registration or licenceFrom the dental council or authority you practise under.
- Good standing certificate from your dental councilLess than six months old at submission.
- Experience certificates signed by HR or the medical directorA practice principal signature may not satisfy the requirement.
- Logbook, if your specialty is surgicalCovering the last two years, stamped and signed by the medical director. Applies to oral and maxillofacial surgery among others.
Good standing must come from the dental council or authority holding your registration, and GCC authorities generally accept one only while it is under six months old. The sequencing trap is explained on our good standing guide.
How much does it cost for dentists?
Regulator and third-party fees only, paid by you directly to the authority or provider. Where a row reads Not published we hold no sourced figure and will not estimate one.
| Item | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Primary source verification | AED 1,150-1,500 | Varies with number of credentials submitted. Fixed packages also quoted at AED 1,235 doctors / AED 935 nurses and allied health. |
| Fixed verification package | Not published | [VERIFY: whether DHA quotes a fixed verification package for dentists, and at what figure.] |
| Examination | USD 180-300 | By profession and specialty. Non-refundable; full fee payable on each reattempt. |
| Application | AED 1,000-2,000 | |
| Good standing certificate | AED 100-500 | Varies by issuing country. Must be less than 6 months old at submission. |
| Total government fees | AED 4,400-8,100 |
DHA names fixed verification packages for doctors and for nurses and allied health. Dentistry is named in neither, and we will not assign you to a band by analogy with medicine. The general published verification range applies and the fixed package question is one for DHA.
Our advisory fee is not published. It is quoted per case, in writing, after a free eligibility consultation, because it depends on your title, how many credentials need verifying and whether attestation applies. The costs page explains what moves that number.
How long does it take?
Typically 4-12 weeks for DHA licensing overall. Dependent on how quickly primary source verification clears.
Where the logbook applies, it belongs on the critical path from day one. It requires a signature from a director at a site you may have left, and that request is slower than any document your university issues.
Where it does not apply, a dental application runs on the same clock as any other DHA file, and verification sets the pace.
Verification itself runs 15-25 working days from the date of payment and submission of a complete set of documents, and a resubmission costs 50 to 100 percent of the original fee. See DataFlow verification.
Where does this sit in the wider process?
This page covers dentists under DHA specifically. The authority, the sibling professions and the same profession elsewhere in the Gulf are covered separately.
- DHA licensing in Dubai, the authority page for every profession
- DHA licence for doctors, a comparable clinical or allied route
- DHA licence for pharmacists, a comparable clinical or allied route
- Healthcare licensing across the GCC, if the country is not settled yet
What else do dentists ask?
Does the two-year logbook apply to dentists?
It applies to surgical specialties. Oral and maxillofacial surgery is clearly within that. For specialties with a substantial surgical component the answer is one to confirm with DHA rather than assume, because obtaining a logbook late is a delay measured in weeks.
Will I be licensed as a specialist or a general dental practitioner?
That depends on how your specialty qualification maps to DHA's published requirements for the title. It is assessed from your file rather than chosen by you, and the free Sheryan self-assessment is the cheapest way to see where you stand before paying anything.
Which verification package applies to dentists?
We do not know, and we will not guess by treating dentistry as medicine. DHA names packages for doctors and for nurses and allied health. Dentistry is in neither list, so the published general range is what we can tell you and the specific band is a question for DHA.
My specialty training was a residency rather than a university degree. Does that count?
What matters is whether the qualification appears in DHA's accepted list for the specialist title you are applying under. Residency and board certifications are common among applicants. Check yours through the self-assessment tool before assuming either way.
Can I apply before I have a clinic offer?
Yes. Eligibility and verification do not require an employer. The licence attaches to a facility, so that step waits, but the slow stages do not have to.
Does a DHA licence cover Dubai Healthcare City?
No. A number of dental practices operate inside Dubai Healthcare City, which is regulated separately by DHCR. A DHA licence has no validity there, so check which regulator licenses the practice in your offer before applying.