How much does ORE Part 2 cost in 2026?

£6,967 per attempt for sittings in the 2026/27 exam year, a rise from £4,235 under the previous contract that the GDC attributes to specialist clinical facilities, experienced examiners and investment in equipment. If the only component you fail is medical emergencies, a standalone retake costs £686; any other fail means resitting the whole of Part 2 at the full fee. Add a Standard Visitor visa at £135, flights, three to four weeks of London accommodation and UK manikin practice, and a single attempt realistically costs £10,000 or more.

Where and when is ORE Part 2 held?

Under the GDC's contract with UCL Consultants, which covers sittings from September 2026, Part 2 is held at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute's Rockefeller Building in Bloomsbury, London. There are 144 places in the September 2026 sitting and around 200 per sitting from November 2026 to April 2027, with the GDC planning to grow capacity to around 1,500 places a year by the third year of the contract. Booking is through your GDC online account once your Part 1 pass is recorded, first come, first served.

How many attempts at ORE Part 2 do I get?

Four attempts at Part 2, and separately four at Part 1. You must also pass the entire ORE within five years of your first attempt at Part 1, so a casual early attempt at Part 1 starts a countdown that Part 2's limited places will eat into. After four unsuccessful attempts at either part the ORE route closes and the remaining option is the Licentiate in Dental Surgery examination. The GDC gives some booking priority to candidates approaching the five-year limit.

Which part of ORE Part 2 is hardest?

The dental manikin component, with a first-attempt pass rate of around 55% in recent sittings, against roughly 70% for the OSCE, 60–65% for diagnosis and treatment planning and 75% for medical emergencies. Experienced clinicians fail it because a manikin and a marking scheme measure preparation outline, depth, margins, retention form and finish under a clock in a way a real patient does not. Most candidates who pass first time have completed four to twelve weeks of hands-on manikin practice in the UK before the sitting.

If I fail one component, do I have to resit all of Part 2?

Yes, with one exception. A fail in the OSCE, the dental manikin component or diagnosis and treatment planning means resitting the whole of Part 2 at the full £6,967 fee and making another trip to London. If medical emergencies is the only component you fail, you can retake that component alone for £686. Before rebooking, identify what actually failed — almost always the manikin — and fix it with more supervised, exam-pace practice rather than more reading.

Dentistry

ORE Part 2 in 2026: The Four Components, the Fee and a Plan That Passes

Q: What does ORE Part 2 consist of?

Four components assessed over three days at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute in London: an OSCE of up to 24 six-minute stations testing communication, history taking, examination and practical skills; a dental manikin component in which you perform three procedures over three hours on a simulator; a diagnosis and treatment planning exercise based on patient records, radiographs and photographs; and a medical emergencies assessment combining a structured scenario-based oral with a demonstration of single-handed basic life support on a resuscitation manikin. All four must be passed in the same sitting.

Abdullah Latif 5 September 2026 10 min read ore part 2, ore part 2 preparation, ore part 2 fee 2026

Key takeaways

Part 2 has four components over three days — OSCE, dental manikin, diagnosis and treatment planning, and medical emergencies — and all must be passed in the same sitting.
The fee is £6,967 per attempt for 2026/27 sittings; only the medical emergencies component can be retaken alone, for £686.
You get four attempts, and the whole ORE must be passed within five years of your first attempt at Part 1.
From September 2026 the exam is held at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute in London, with 144 places in September and around 200 per sitting thereafter.
The dental manikin component has the lowest pass rate at roughly 55% — UK-based, exam-pace manikin practice is the biggest determinant of a pass.
Approach NHS-aligned employers after Part 1: some reimburse part of the Part 2 fee, manikin courses and GDC registration as a recruitment package.

ORE Part 2 is the exam that decides whether an overseas dentist practises in the UK. Part 1 tests what you know; Part 2 puts you in front of a manikin, a simulated patient, a set of radiographs and a collapsed casualty over three days in London, and you must pass all four components in the same sitting. It costs £6,967 per attempt from the 2026/27 exam year — by some distance the most expensive regulator exam in UK healthcare — and there are fewer places than candidates who want them.

This guide covers Part 2 as it runs under the General Dental Council's new contract with UCL Consultants (UCLC) from September 2026: the four components and what each actually tests, the fee and the rules on attempts and timing, how booking works when places are scarce, where candidates fail, and a preparation plan that puts UK manikin practice where it belongs. If you have not yet passed Part 1, start with our ORE Part 1 preparation guide.

The short answer

Four components over three days: an OSCE of up to 24 six-minute stations, three procedures on a dental manikin over three hours, a diagnosis and treatment planning exercise, and a medical emergencies assessment including single-handed basic life support.
Fee: £6,967 per attempt for 2026/27 sittings. Fail only medical emergencies and you can retake that component alone for £686; fail any other component and you resit the whole of Part 2.
Rules: four attempts, and the whole ORE must be passed within five years of your first attempt at Part 1.
Venue and places: UCL Eastman Dental Institute, Bloomsbury. 144 places in September 2026, then around 200 per sitting from November 2026 to April 2027.
What passes: hands-on manikin work under exam-pace conditions, practised in the UK before the sitting. The manikin component has the lowest pass rate, at roughly 55%.

The four components, and what each really tests

Component	Format	What is being assessed	Recent first-attempt pass rate
OSCE	A single circuit of up to 24 stations, six minutes each — one minute to read, five to perform	Communication, history taking, explanation and consent, clinical examination and practical skills on simulated patients and models	~70%
Dental Manikin (DM)	Three procedures over three hours on a dental simulator	Operative skill: cavity and crown preparations, restorations, endodontic access and other procedures that can be simulated	~55%
Diagnosis and Treatment Planning (DTP)	Case-based exercise using patient records, radiographs and clinical photographs	Diagnosis, prioritisation and a justified, realistic treatment plan in a UK context	~60–65%
Medical Emergencies (ME)	A structured scenario-based oral, plus a demonstration of single-handed basic life support with CPR on a resuscitation manikin	Recognition and management of emergencies in the dental setting, and competent BLS	~75%

Pass rates are drawn from recent GDC published outcomes and vary by sitting; our ORE pass rate analysis explains the pattern behind them. The point that matters for planning is structural: you must pass every component in the same sitting. A candidate who is excellent on the OSCE, DTP and ME but drops the manikin component resits everything, at the full fee, for another trip to London. The only exception is medical emergencies, which can be retaken on its own.

Fee, attempts and the five-year rule

Item	Detail (2026/27)
Part 2 fee	£6,967 per attempt, up from £4,235 under the previous contract
Medical emergencies retake only	£686
Attempts	Four at Part 2 (and four at Part 1). After a fourth fail the ORE route closes and the alternative is the Licentiate in Dental Surgery
Time limit	Both parts must be passed within five years of your first attempt at Part 1
Venue	UCL Eastman Dental Institute, Rockefeller Building, Bloomsbury, London
Places	144 in September 2026; around 200 per sitting from November 2026 to April 2027; the GDC plans to grow capacity to around 1,500 a year by the third year of the contract

The GDC attributes the fee rise to the cost of specialist clinical facilities, experienced examiners and UCLC's investment in equipment, and has said the Part 2 fee is set with a view to remaining broadly stable over the next five years. Whether or not that holds, two Part 2 attempts now cost £13,934 in fees alone, plus two UK trips. The whole-route budget — application, both parts, English test, verification, travel and preparation — is in our cost of the ORE exam guide.

Booking when places are scarce

Booking is through your GDC online account once your Part 1 pass is recorded, in windows that open some weeks before each sitting, on a first-come, first-served basis. Under the new contract demand is expected to exceed supply for the first year or two, and the GDC gives some priority to candidates approaching the five-year limit. Practically:

Know your own clock. Count five years from your first Part 1 attempt, not your pass. If that date is within eighteen months, tell the GDC and ask about priority allocation.
Have the visa in hand before you book. Overseas candidates sit Part 2 on a Standard Visitor visa (£135 for six months from April 2026), and the GDC's cancellation terms will not wait for a late decision. Sitting an exam is a permitted visitor activity, as is an unpaid dental observer post.
Book manikin practice before the exam date is certain. Popular UK preparation centres fill six months ahead. A refundable or transferable booking made early beats a perfect one made late.
Plan one long trip, not two short ones. Fly in three to four weeks before the sitting for intensive manikin practice and mock OSCEs, sit the exam, and fly home. Two separate visits doubles the travel cost for no examination benefit.

Where candidates fail

Manikin work at exam pace. Dentists with years of clinical experience fail DM because a real mouth forgives what a manikin and a marking scheme do not: preparation outline, depth, margins, retention form and finish are all measured. Working to a UK preparation standard under a clock is a specific skill, and it is the single biggest determinant of a Part 2 pass.
Treating the OSCE as the easy part. Its pass rate is higher, but candidates who allocate all their time to the manikin lose Part 2 on an OSCE station they could have passed: consent conversations, explaining a diagnosis in lay language, safeguarding, or a clinical examination performed out of sequence.
Treatment plans from home. DTP expects a UK-style plan — stabilisation before definitive work, NHS versus private options, prevention, realistic sequencing and justification. A technically brilliant plan built on a different system's assumptions scores poorly.
Medical emergencies by recall. The scenario bank is predictable — anaphylaxis, hypoglycaemia, syncope, asthma, angina, cardiac arrest — but the assessment is a structured oral and a demonstrated single-handed BLS sequence. Knowing the drug and dose is not the same as performing the sequence cleanly on a resuscitation manikin.
Fatigue and nerves across three days. Part 2 is an endurance event. Candidates who have never done a full three-day mock underestimate how the third day feels.

A preparation plan that fits the exam

Months 3–6 before: knowledge and UK context

Relearn UK clinical standards: the relevant guidance on caries management, periodontal classification and treatment, radiography, prescribing in dentistry, consent, safeguarding and record keeping. DTP and the OSCE are written to them.
Work through DTP-style cases weekly — records, radiographs, photographs — and write the plan the way a UK practitioner would, with stabilisation, prevention and justification.
Learn the medical emergencies scenarios as sequences, not facts, and rehearse BLS to the current UK resuscitation standard.

Months 1–3 before: hands

Begin manikin practice, ideally in the UK, and ideally on the same simulator type used at the Eastman. Practise every procedure that can be simulated — Class II and other cavity preparations, crown preparations, endodontic access, restorations — against a marking scheme and a timer, and have each attempt assessed by someone who knows the ORE standard.
Run timed OSCE circuits with a partner, six minutes a station, including communication stations. Record yourself.

The final three to four weeks, in the UK

Full-day manikin sessions at a preparation centre, with a three-day mock in the last week to rehearse the fatigue.
Rest the day before each component. A tired hand fails DM.

Candidates who arrive with four or more weeks of UK-based manikin practice and a structured mock programme pass at rates well above the headline averages. Our dentists service hub covers structured preparation support built around a confirmed sitting date.

After a pass: registration, and the job that follows

A Part 2 pass unlocks GDC registration, not a job. You apply for full registration with your ORE results, English evidence and verified documents, pay the registration fee — pro-rated in the year you join, with the annual retention fee falling due each December — and appear on the register. Our guides to GDC registration from Pakistan and from India cover the document stage in detail.

Then the work. Some NHS-aligned employers reimburse part of the Part 2 fee, manikin course costs and the GDC registration fee as part of a recruitment package, usually offered once you have passed Part 1 — so it is worth approaching employers before Part 2, not after. With a job offer from a licensed sponsor you apply for the Health and Care Worker visa from home.

After a fail

The result tells you which components you passed. If the only fail was medical emergencies, book the standalone retake for £686 and treat it as a rehearsal problem, not a knowledge problem. If you failed DM, DTP or the OSCE, you resit all of Part 2. Before re-booking, look at what actually failed: almost always it is the manikin, and almost always the fix is more supervised practice under exam conditions rather than more reading. Count your remaining attempts and your five-year date, and do not book the next available sitting simply because it is available.

Frequently asked questions

What does ORE Part 2 consist of?

Four components over three days: an OSCE of up to 24 six-minute stations, three dental manikin procedures over three hours, a diagnosis and treatment planning exercise, and a medical emergencies assessment with a structured oral and a demonstration of single-handed basic life support. All four must be passed in the same sitting.

How much is ORE Part 2 in 2026?

£6,967 per attempt for 2026/27 sittings, up from £4,235 under the previous contract. A retake of the medical emergencies component alone costs £686.

Where is ORE Part 2 held?

At the UCL Eastman Dental Institute's Rockefeller Building in Bloomsbury, London, under the GDC's contract with UCL Consultants from September 2026. Overseas candidates need a Standard Visitor visa.

How many attempts do I get, and is there a time limit?

Four attempts at Part 2, and the whole ORE must be passed within five years of your first attempt at Part 1. After four fails the ORE route closes and the alternative is the LDS.

Which component is hardest?

The dental manikin component, with a first-attempt pass rate of around 55% in recent sittings. It cannot be prepared from books — most candidates who pass first time have done four to twelve weeks of hands-on manikin practice in the UK.

If I fail one component, do I resit everything?

Yes, unless the only component you failed was medical emergencies, which can be retaken on its own. A fail in the OSCE, manikin or treatment planning component means resitting the whole of Part 2 at the full fee.

Part 2 is expensive enough that the preparation should be planned as carefully as the exam itself: the sitting, the visa, the manikin practice and the trip all booked against each other, with your attempt count and five-year date in view. If you want that plan built around your Part 1 result, book a free consultation or see how we support dentists through the GDC registration route.