Dental Professionals Hearings Service determination — substantive hearing
GDC panel erases dental nurse Salama Begum over tooth whitening outside scope and dishonesty
A GDC Professional Conduct Committee has erased dental nurse Salama Begum from the register after finding she provided tooth whitening services outside a dental nurse's scope of practice, without indemnity cover, and acted dishonestly towards both her employer and the GDC.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 2 June 2026 · Updated 8 July 2026
Erasure (struck off the register)
Added to MedicWatch: 8 July 2026Report a correction
What does “struck off the register” mean?
Being struck off (the regulator calls this "erasure") removes the practitioner from the register. They are no longer permitted to practise this profession in the UK. Erasure can be reviewed after a minimum of five years, but is otherwise indefinite.
Concerning Salama Begum, dental nurse (General Dental Council 287019).
Decision date: 2 June 2026 · Hearing started 1 June 2026 and ended 2 June 2026
In plain English
The GDC tribunal decided that dental nurse Salama Begum should be erased from the register, with an immediate suspension order. The Professional Conduct Committee found she offered and provided tooth whitening services outside a dental nurse's scope of practice and without indemnity cover, putting patient safety at risk, and that she acted dishonestly by denying the work to her employer and falsely telling the GDC it had approved the service.
Charges
It was alleged that between 7 November 2024 and 18 February 2025 Ms Begum offered and/or provided tooth whitening services, working outside a dental nurse's scope of practice and without any or any adequate indemnity cover, putting patient safety at risk; that on 12 November 2024 she twice told her employer she had not offered or provided tooth whitening services, which was misleading and dishonest; and that on 19 February 2025 she told the GDC she had contacted it before offering the services and that it had confirmed the service was acceptable, which was misleading and dishonest as she knew she had not sought approval before offering or providing the service.
Findings
The Committee, proceeding in Ms Begum's absence, found all charges proved. It accepted expert evidence that tooth whitening is outside the scope of practice of a dental nurse and that providing it without appropriate training, within-scope registration or indemnity put patients at risk of harm, both physically and financially. It found her denials to her employer on 12 November 2024 misleading and dishonest, and her statements to the GDC on 19 February 2025, claiming the regulator had confirmed she could provide the service, misleading and dishonest. The Committee found the conduct amounted to misconduct and that her fitness to practise was currently impaired on public protection and public interest grounds, noting limited insight and little evidence of remediation. It determined that suspension would not adequately address the concerns and directed that her name be erased from the register, imposing an immediate suspension order and revoking the interim order.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
No regulatory history; tendered an apology and expressed remorse.
Aggravating factors
Risk of harm to a patient, colleague or other member of the public; premeditated misconduct; financial gain by the registrant; abuse of trust/abuse of professional position; misconduct sustained or repeated over a period of time; blatant or wilful disregard of the role of the GDC and the systems regulating the professions; attempts to cover up wrongdoing; lack of insight.
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Dental Professionals Hearings Service determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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