CQC inspection checklist for dental practices: all 34 quality statements, with the 7 used in dental inspections marked
A self-audit for NHS and private dental practices and dental groups, set out the way CQC assesses you: the five key questions, every quality statement under them, and the fundamental standard each one relates to. Browse all 34 below, or request a copy tailored to your practice and we'll send a scoped working template.
CQC doesn't rate dental practices. For each key question it judges "Regulations met" or "Not all regulations met", and it uses 7 quality statements in dental inspections. We mark those 7 below. The fundamental standards behind the other 27 still apply to your practice.
CQC doesn't publish a checklist that maps every quality statement to what a dental practice should check. We wrote these checks from the guidance dental practices work to, including HTM 01-05, CQC's dental mythbusters and the Resuscitation Council UK standards for primary dental care, then checked every standard they name against its source. The quality statements and regulation titles are CQC's, quoted accurately. The "what to check" column is ours. Use it as a prompt for your own audit.
The quality statements are CQC's, from the assessment framework. The regulation titles are from the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. CQC explains how it judges dental practices in Assessing services we do not rate. You'll find the other standards the checks name under Sources, below the tables.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
Nothing on this page is regulatory advice: see the terms of use. For a working copy you can fill in, request one tailored to your practice below.
Not a dental practice? Use the care home audit tool, the domiciliary care audit tool or the supported living audit tool. Or browse all our free tools.
Dental inspection marks the 7 quality statements CQC uses in dental inspections.
Safe 8 quality statements · 3 used in dental inspections
| Quality statement | What to check | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Learning culture | Take one incident or near miss, such as a sharps injury or a medical emergency, and trace it from the report to a change in practice. Can you show the whole team heard about it? | Reg 17Good governance |
| Safe systems, pathways and transitions | Do you track urgent referrals, such as suspected oral cancer, until a specialist sees the patient? Check you record each referral and follow up with the patient, as CQC's dental guidance advises. | Reg 12Safe care and treatment |
| Safeguarding | Is there a named safeguarding lead, and has each team member had safeguarding training for their role? Check you log concerns, refer them where required and notify CQC of any abuse or allegation of abuse. | Reg 13Safeguarding from abuse |
| Involving people to manage risks | Do records show you checked each patient's medical history before treatment, and the risks you discussed with them? Check you record what the patient decided. | Reg 12Safe care and treatment |
| Safe environmentsDental inspection | Have you registered your X-ray work with HSE, consulted a radiation protection adviser and documented your radiation protection arrangements? Check you test and service the X-ray equipment, and check your emergency drugs and AED against the Resuscitation Council UK list for dental practices. | Reg 15Premises and equipment |
| Safe and effective staffingDental inspection | Does every clinician hold current GDC registration and indemnity cover? Check clinical staff who carry out exposure-prone procedures have health clearance in line with UKHSA guidance, and that each team member's medical emergency training is current. | Reg 18Staffing |
| Infection prevention and controlDental inspection | Do you audit decontamination every six months, as HTM 01-05 recommends, and act on what you find? Check you assess Legionella risk, including your dental unit waterlines, and handle sharps under the 2013 sharps regulations. | Reg 12Safe care and treatment |
| Medicines optimisation | Do you check expiry dates on emergency medicines and equipment regularly, and store medicines securely in line with the manufacturer's instructions? Check you store blank prescription forms securely and record their serial numbers. | Reg 12Safe care and treatment |
Effective 6 quality statements · 1 used in dental inspections
| Quality statement | What to check | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Assessing needs | Do records show a full assessment for each course of treatment, including medical history, oral health and risk factors such as smoking? | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Delivering evidence-based care and treatmentDental inspection | Can clinicians show the guidance behind their care? Check a practitioner justifies each X-ray and you record a clinical evaluation of each one, as IR(ME)R requires, and that prevention advice follows Delivering better oral health. | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| How staff, teams and services work together | Do you track referrals to specialist and hospital dental services, and record the outcome when the patient returns? | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Supporting people to live healthier lives | Do clinicians give and record prevention advice, such as on diet, fluoride and stopping smoking, matched to each patient's risk? | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Monitoring and improving outcomes | Do you run clinical audits, such as X-ray quality, record keeping and antimicrobial prescribing, and repeat them to show improvement? | Reg 17Good governance |
| Consent to care and treatment | Do records show valid consent before treatment, with the options, risks and costs explained, as GDC standard 3.1 requires? Check how you assess capacity for adults and competence for children. | Reg 11Need for consent |
Caring 5 quality statements · 1 used in dental inspections
| Quality statement | What to check | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Kindness, compassion and dignityDental inspection | What do patients say about how the team treats them? Review feedback, online reviews and complaints, and see how reception greets patients and answers the phone. | Reg 10Dignity and respect |
| Treating people as individuals | Do you record and act on each patient's needs and preferences, such as dental anxiety, communication needs or a preferred clinician? | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Independence, choice and control | Do patients get the information they need to choose between treatment options, including NHS and private options where you offer both? | Reg 10Dignity and respect |
| Responding to people's immediate needs | How quickly can a patient in pain get an appointment? Check your urgent appointment arrangements and the out-of-hours information you give patients. | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Workforce wellbeing and enablement | Do team members get regular one-to-ones and appraisals, and time and support for their GDC continuing professional development? Note: this moves to Well-led under the draft 2026 frameworks. | Reg 18Staffing |
Responsive 7 quality statements · 1 used in dental inspections
| Quality statement | What to check | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Person-centred care | Do treatment plans reflect what each patient wants from their care, with the options and costs recorded? Note: this moves to Caring under the draft 2026 frameworks. | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Care provision, integration, and continuity | Can patients see the same clinician through a course of treatment where they want to? Check how you hand over patients when a clinician leaves. | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Providing information | Are fees, NHS charges and treatment options clear and available in the formats patients need? For NHS patients, check you record and flag communication needs in line with the Accessible Information Standard (DAPB1605). | Reg 9Person-centred care |
| Listening to and involving people | Is your complaints process easy to find and use, and do you respond within the time limits your procedure sets, as the GDC expects? For NHS treatment, check you follow the NHS complaints regulations. | Reg 16Receiving and acting on complaints |
| Equity in accessDental inspection | Can patients with disabilities or additional needs get into the practice and the surgery, and get an appointment when they need one? Check you make and record reasonable adjustments. | Reg 10Dignity and respect |
| Equity in experiences and outcomes | Record who uses the practice, then check whether some groups get worse access or outcomes, such as patients who need an interpreter. | Reg 10Dignity and respect |
| Planning for the future | Do you set each patient's recall interval by their risk, as NICE's dental recall guideline recommends, and record the reason for it? | Reg 9Person-centred care |
Well-led 8 quality statements · 1 used in dental inspections
| Quality statement | What to check | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Shared direction and culture | Ask three team members what the practice is trying to be good at. Specific answers that match are your evidence. | Reg 17Good governance |
| Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders | Is the person registered to manage the practice in post and present? Check you notify CQC of any absence of 28 days or more, and that leaders know what happens in the surgery day to day. | Reg 17Good governance |
| Freedom to speak up | Does each team member know how to raise a concern, including outside the practice, and can you show what happened the last time someone did? | Reg 17Good governance |
| Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion | Is each staff file complete against Schedule 3, including a DBS check and evidence of conduct in previous health or care roles? Check you make and record reasonable adjustments for staff who need them. | Reg 19Fit and proper persons employed |
| Governance, management and sustainabilityDental inspection | Do you run infection control, X-ray and record-keeping audits on a schedule, review policies on time, and track each finding to closure with an owner? In a group, check every practice works to the same system. | Reg 17Good governance |
| Partnerships and communities | Show how you work with your NHS commissioner where you hold a contract, your local dental network and the services you refer to, and what you changed because of it. | Reg 17Good governance |
| Learning, improvement and innovation | Name one change you made in the last quarter because of an audit, complaint or incident, and show it worked. | Reg 17Good governance |
| Environmental sustainability – sustainable development | CQC still assesses this today. Three of its four draft frameworks keep it and the adult social care draft drops it, and CQC hasn't confirmed which framework will apply to dental practices. | Reg 17Good governance |
Two of these move under the draft 2026 frameworks. Person-centred care moves from Responsive into Caring, and workforce wellbeing moves from Caring into Well-led. CQC hasn't confirmed which draft framework will apply to dental practices, and both moves appear in all four drafts. Our free CQC framework crosswalk maps all 34 statements to what replaces them.
Two things work differently in a dental practice
Start with the 7 statements, then audit the rest.
CQC's review of its assessment framework says it uses 7 quality statements in dental inspections: 3 under Safe and 1 under each other key question. The other 27 map to regulations your practice still has to meet, so audit them too.
Decontamination and radiography carry their own standards.
HTM 01-05 recommends you audit decontamination every six months. For X-rays, the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 require you to register with HSE, and IR(ME)R 2017 requires a practitioner to justify each exposure and you to record a clinical evaluation of each one. CQC's radiography mythbuster lists the issues it will consider.
Sources for the standards the checks name
- CQC: Assessing services we do not rate
- CQC: Review of CQC's single assessment framework and its implementation: section 6
- CQC: Dental mythbusters: full list
- CQC: Dental mythbuster 3: dental radiography and X-rays
- NHS England: HTM 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices
- HSE: Work with ionising radiation that requires registration
- legislation.gov.uk: Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017
- Resuscitation Council UK: Quality standards: primary dental care
- Resuscitation Council UK: Primary dental care: equipment and drug list
- GDC: Standards for the Dental Team: principle 1 (including 1.8, indemnity)
- GDC: Standards for the Dental Team: principle 3 (valid consent)
- GOV.UK: BBVs in healthcare workers: health clearance and management
- GOV.UK: Delivering better oral health: an evidence-based toolkit for prevention
- NICE: CG19: Dental checks: intervals between oral health reviews
- legislation.gov.uk: Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013
- HSE: Legionnaires' disease
- legislation.gov.uk: NHS complaints regulations 2009
- legislation.gov.uk: Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009
- NHS England: Accessible Information Standard (DAPB1605)
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Common questions
Does CQC rate dental practices?
No. CQC doesn't rate primary dental services. After an assessment it reports "Regulations met" or "Not all regulations met" for each key question.
Which quality statements does CQC use in dental inspections?
Seven. Three sit under Safe: safe environments, safe and effective staffing, and infection prevention and control. The other key questions have one each: delivering evidence-based care and treatment (Effective); kindness, compassion and dignity (Caring); equity in access (Responsive); and governance, management and sustainability (Well-led). CQC's framework review names the three under Safe, and its recent dental reports show the other four.
How often should a dental practice audit infection control?
HTM 01-05 recommends you audit decontamination every six months. CQC's infection control mythbuster expects an audit programme that shows the issues you found and how you dealt with each one.
Does this work for NHS and private practices?
Yes. The same quality statements and fundamental standards apply to both. A few checks apply to NHS care only, such as the NHS complaints regulations and the Accessible Information Standard. Request a copy and we'll scope it to your mix of NHS and private work.
Does it cover dental groups with several practices?
Yes. CQC assesses each practice as its own location, so run the audit at every practice and check each one works to the same audit schedule, policies and findings log. Request a copy and we'll scope it to your group.
Or stay inspection-ready at every practice you run
CompliantCare schedules this checklist as an audit at each of your practices and gives every finding a named owner and a due date. Inspection Readiness updates live from your policies, audits, training, incidents and risk register, and one click produces the inspection pack when CQC calls.