Description
If you want to work as a dentist in Germany after studying dentistry, you need a special professional license - a license to practice. In Bavaria, this is issued by the government of Upper Bavaria and the government of Lower Franconia.
If you studied dentistry in the administrative districts of Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Upper Palatinate or Swabia, the government of Upper Bavaria is responsible for you, whereas the government of Lower Franconia is responsible if you studied in the administrative districts of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia. It will also grant you a license to practice dentistry if you have studied in a member state of the European Union (EU), a signatory state to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland and will be practicing dentistry in the administrative districts of Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia or Lower Franconia in the future. If you intend to work in Upper or Lower Bavaria, Swabia or the Upper Palatinate, please contact the government of Upper Bavaria.
Prerequisites
The license to practice medicine is linked to various requirements relating to the successful completion of studies, personal and health suitability for practicing the profession and sufficient German language skills.
Special notes
The granting of a license to practice medicine or a professional permit requires, among other things, that you have the necessary knowledge of the German language to practice your profession. The 87th Conference of Health Ministers in 2014 agreed in a key points paper on the requirements for knowledge of the German language and how this knowledge can be demonstrated. The following applies:
1. the required German language skills are deemed to be proven for applicants for whom the licensing authority determines without doubt that German is spoken and written fluently (e.g. as a native language) or that the completion of medical, dental, pharmaceutical or psychotherapeutic training (proof of training) was obtained in German.
2. proof of the required German language skills is generally deemed to have been provided if the applicant has completed at least ten years of general schooling at a German-speaking school or has completed at least three years of vocational training in German.
3. if proof is not deemed to have been provided in accordance with 1. or 2. above, the language skills required for practicing the profession shall be deemed to have been demonstrated by submission of a certificate of successful completion of the specialist language test at the Bavarian State Chamber of Dentists.
4 Specialist language tests taken at the Chamber of Dentists or the competent authority of another state, as well as specialist language tests from other examination institutions, are recognized as proof, provided that it is guaranteed that the examination there is equivalent to the specialist language test at the Bavarian State Chamber of Dentists. Whether this requirement is met in individual cases must be clarified in advance with the responsible professional licensing office.