Dentists from outside the EU have doubled: what it means.

In short: one in four practising dentists in the Netherlands trained abroad, and intake from outside the EU doubled in five years. Not because there is too little interest in the course — there are thousands of applications — but because the Netherlands has been training too few people for years.

The figures

Nieuwsuur reports on the basis of figures from ACTA, the Amsterdam dentistry school that handles admission for non-EU dentists: this year 120 people are sitting the entrance test, against 53 in 2021 — more than a doubling in five years. They come from Syria, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil and Iraq, among others.

The KNMT now counts 2.287 practising dentists with a foreign qualification, with an average of 150 to 200 added each year. That makes one in four dentists in the Netherlands foreign-trained. How that works out varies sharply by region: in Zeeland it is already more than half.

Why this is happening

It is not for lack of interest. At ACTA alone — one of the three schools — over two thousand applications came in this year, while students are sometimes turned away by ballot three years in a row. KNMT chair Hans de Vries calls that painful in his comments to Nieuwsuur, and suspects cost plays a part; ACTA’s director of education points to limited funding from the education ministry.

The Dutch capacity body has long advised raising the number of training places to 386 a year. That advice is still with the ministry — it would cost a structural 27,1 million euros extra, and clarity is expected after the summer. Worth realising: even if that decision comes tomorrow, the course takes six years. So the first extra dentists won’t be chairside until the next decade.

What this means for your practice

Three sober conclusions. One: the shortage will not resolve itself in the coming years — anyone sitting out a vacancy hoping the market will improve is waiting for something that isn’t coming before 2032. Two: foreign-trained dentists are no longer an exception but a quarter of the profession; ruling them out in advance means ruling out a quarter of the labour market. Three: the route is well-trodden. An EU qualification only needs the language requirement (Dutch at B2+ level); a qualification from outside adds verification and a professional competence test. Exactly how that works is set out in our step-by-step guide to BIG registration.

And for candidates with a foreign qualification

What the figures mainly say is this: there is room, and you are not the first — 150 to 200 colleagues a year have gone before you. The route takes patience (language first, then testing), but it is walkable and we know it. Read the guide, or simply put your situation to us.

Sources

• NOS Nieuwsuur — Number of dentists from outside the EU has doubled (18 August 2026; ACTA and KNMT figures as reported there)