Membership FAQs

Choose the right membership for you. We have three membership packages for dentists, each offering different benefits and services at a different price.

• Essential membership gives you the essentials for just £44.63 per month
• Extra membership offers an enhanced range of benefits (including one-to-one advice) for £88.87 per month
• Expert membership gives you access to the full range of BDA services (including one to one advice and all the policies, templates and checklists you need to run your practice) and costs £136.97 per month

Fees can be paid annually, quarterly or monthly. Members can get a 5% discount by paying their fees annually.

Dental Care Professionals (DCPs) cannot join the BDA, although there are ways you can engage, for instance via some of our events and courses.

Which membership should I choose?

Take a look at our membership comparison table to see which membership package might suit you best.

Still can't decide? Don't worry, our membership team will be pleased to help you.

Email: [email protected]
Call: 020 7563 4550, lines are open from 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday.

We may record telephone conversations to offer you additional security, resolve complaints, for regulatory compliance and to improve our service standards. Conversations may also be monitored for staff training purposes. You will be alerted to this when you call.

As a trade union we support employed salaried members working in the community, social enterprises, public health, prisons, the armed forces and academia.

Join as an Essential member and receive one to one advice and representation by phone or email on employment and workplace-related issues from our team of experts.

We provide advice and representation to members on:

• Redundancy and dismissals
• Grievance or bullying and harassment claims
• Disciplinary proceedings
• Sickness absence procedures
• TUPE consultations

We will also provide you with representation and support when you need it.

Your Employment Relations Officer (ERO) can also offer personal representation in matters of personal or contractual disputes with employers.

We offer the same service to salaried hospital dentists, delivered via the BMA on our behalf.

You should choose student membership. Student membership is £33.75 a year, and only £2.96 per month. Student membership is only open to students at UK dental schools studying a BDS or BChD dental degree.

The following groups are not eligible for this membership package:

• Dental therapy or hygiene students
• Students on a pre-clinical or international course
• Qualified dentists studying postgraduate courses, for example a Diploma, Masters or Doctorate.

If you are not eligible, please call our Membership department on 020 7563 4550 to discuss your membership options.

It’s important to remember that BDA membership is for dentists (and dental students).

If you are an overseas-qualified dentist with a UK DCP registration, then you are welcome to join us as an Affiliate member.

Current or former GDC-registered dentists living overseas are eligible for Essential, Extra or Expert membership, depending on your needs. Please note that we do not ship print copies of the British Dental Journal and BDJ In Practice to overseas addresses. 

If you are a qualified dentist who has never been GDC-registered and live overseas, you are eligible for one of our Affiliate memberships.

Fees can be paid annually, quarterly or monthly. Members can get a 5% discount by paying their fees annually.

Formerly registered?

• If you have ever been registered with the GDC, you are eligible for our Essential, Extra and Expert memberships. 

Never registered?

• For dentists who qualified abroad and are not registered to practice in the UK, we offer Affiliate memberships.
  
  
• There is a separate type of membership for asylum seekers and refugees.
• If you qualified in the UK but never registered with the GDC, you are eligible for our Essential, Extra and Expert memberships, however you currently have to join us over email or phone. Please email [email protected] or call 020 7563 4550 to be assisted by our Membership team.

Yes. You can upgrade your membership at any time. Simply call the membership team on 020 7563 4550 (between 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday) to get immediate access to further benefits and services. All we ask is that you commit to a minimum period of membership of one year in the new package.

We are a not for profit organisation, set up by dentists for dentists. We charge fees so that we can provide the services our members need. We strive to keep the fees as low as possible, while still giving the best possible value to our members.

Fees can be paid annually, quarterly or monthly. You can get a 5% discount by paying your fees annually. 

Learn more about our current fees.

If you would like to change the account from which payments are taken, you can do so from the Membership section in My BDA.

If you would like to pay using another method or change the frequency of payments, please contact the membership team on 020 7563 4550 or [email protected].

Yes. The BDA is one of the HMRC approved professional bodies (list 3). For more information please refer to tax relief on membership subscriptions.

Our online advice and guidance can provide support on a whole host of issues. This is available to all members regardless of your package, or length of membership. If you require more personalised one-to-one support from our advice team, our terms and conditions explain that this is only available if you are a member at the time the issue occurred. If you are on our entry level of membership (Essential), you can upgrade to access the support you need.  This means that it is not possible to join as a member and receive personalised one-to-one support on issues that pre-date membership.

Yes, you can. The BDJ and BDJ In Practice are two of six journals which are printed and circulated to members.

If you would rather opt out of receiving these please call 020 7563 4550 or email [email protected]

Members are able to prepare an application for membership of the Good Practice scheme, whichever membership package you select. The ‘Self-Assessment’ criteria is published on the website and is available to all members.

While we believe that using BDA Expert benefits provides the best, quickest and easiest route to gaining (or maintaining) membership of the Good Practice scheme, we recognise that members may wish to develop their applications in different ways.

So, for example, it would be possible to be an Essential member (at £44.63 per month), and still be a member of the Good Practice Scheme.

The fees for Good Practice scheme are entirely separate from membership, and are set by the scheme administrators every year.