The professional body for dentists encouraged its members to take part in the recent consultation, which included options to replace registrants’ full addresses with a shorter geographic location.
The regulator received 2,534 individual responses, 74 per cent of which backed offering no location information on the public register – a view endorsed by 59 per cent of the 538 respondents from its Patient Panel.
The BDA has argued that limiting the public register to dentists' names and registration numbers was the most appropriate way of ensuring registrants' safety. The updated rules will have to be formally approved at the GDC’s October council meeting, and the change will come into effect shortly thereafter.
Mick Armstrong, chair of the BDA, said: “I want to thank over 2,000 colleagues who took the time to stand up for registrants’ safety. We are pleased that the General Dental Council has heeded the dental profession’s advice.
"Our members’ safety has been our principle concern. There was never a case for publishing their full addresses online, and now the GDC can follow a path set by the majority of UK regulators.
“This profession has campaigned long and hard to get this policy changed, and our regulator has responded. The GDC should draw the right lessons, be willing to listen, to learn, and to take a proportionate approach wherever it can.”