Employment and jobs

Working as a dentist in Luxembourg

Explore rewarding careers and salaries in dentist jobs in Luxembourg. Your guide to thriving in Luxembourg's dental sector.

Table of content

For dentists from abroad, Luxembourg is an ideal place to build an international career, offering a strong healthcare system and a diverse culture at the workplace. This article will help you figure out the details to buiding a career in the country in dentistry medical sphere.

Getting general or specialised dentist jobs in Luxembourg requires first and foremost (like for any medical career) obtaining a license from the Ministry of Health. All applicants are evaluated in terms of their:

professional qualifications,
adherence to medical ethics,
good prior reputation,
language skills,
with physical and mental health also being taken into account.

Learn more about the healthcare and related job market

Who can become a dentist in Luxembourg

It’s the easiest to become a practicing dentist in Luxembourg for the residents of one of the EU member states, a member state of the European Economic Area, which include Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, or Switzerland.

Residents of third countries must be granted international protection or obtain a residence permit, before applying for the license, even if they satisfy other criteria.

Who can not become a dentist?

Those permanently or temporarily disqualified from practicing dentistry in their previous country of practice cannot become a dental practitioner in the Grand Duchy. The same applies to specialists with disqualification currently pending.

To become a dentist, you need to spend 6 to 8 years in training and education. There are a variety of fields for those with a BDS (bachelor degree in dental surgery) in Luxembourg.

General Dentistry

General dentists provide ordinary and usual dental care, including prophylactics, diagnostics and treatment for typical dental issues. Such a specialist can open a private practice, work at a public dental office or even a public clinic.

Specialist Dentistry

They can be a professional in orthodontics (teeth position correction), periodontics (gum disease treatment) or orthognathic (jaw) surgery. These specialists typically earn higher pay, but they also need additional education and training.

Dental Hygiene

A hygienist works with a dentist to ensure the patient is taught prophylactic dental care, including proper teeth-brushing technique and oral hygiene.

Public Health Dentistry

Public healthcare dentists work towards raising oral hygiene and health awareness with government health agencies and nonprofit organisations.

Sales and Marketing in Dentistry

These professionals are tied to working for companies that produce or distribute dental products. There are various career paths in this field from sales and product marketing to actually developing new products.

Academic or Research

After getting a BDS, some students stay at a university to pursue an academic career or delve deeper into research. Accordingly, there are positions in universities and research facilities for such professionals.

Dr. Who?

You can work as a general or specialist dental practitioner in Luxembourg without using 'Doctor' or 'Dr' as your academic title. In fact, if you want to use one of these titles, you have to prove your qualifications, so they are added to the certificates’ register.

Requirements and education needed to become a dentist

In Luxembourg students apply for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programs in January and February. However, the exact dates for admission vary between universities and dentistry schools, so future students are advised to check in with the establishments they want to apply to.

Some dentistry schools also hold an entrance exam, either the BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) or the Health Professions Admission Test (HPAT). Some schools hold preliminary interviews to gauge the applicants’ communication skills, motivation and aptitude for the profession.

Completed admission application form,
Proof of Secondary education,
Language proficiency certificate,
Entrance exam results, if any,
Passport or ID-card,
Letters of recommendation from previous place of education,
Cover letter for application, personal statement,
CV or resume,
Criminal record certificate from the country of residence,
Proof of health insurance for the study period,
Proof of sufficient financial resources,
Required visa or Residence Permit.

All documents must be translated into the primary language of education, either French or German.

How much can education cost?

If you are accepted into a BDS program, you’ll receive an official notification, which includes detailed information on your enrolment, as well as all the due payments, if there are any in your case.

Students from Europe

Students from EU and EEA countries may apply for free courses in some Luxembourg universities and only pay nominal administrative fees during education.

Third-country nationals

Students from third countries will almost certainly have to pay for education. The sum can vastly differ from university to university, ranging from hundreds to thousands of euros per year. However, many universities and government organisations in Luxembourg offer students from abroad scholarships to compensate for education costs.

Paying for education is far from the only thing students will have to spend money on: don’t forget rent, buying textbooks, medical insurance, and a whole host of other needs.

How to start your medical practice as a dentist

Robert Golebiewski for Pexels

After receiving BDS one can finally apply for a medical license from the Ministry of Health. There are several ways to apply for a licence, you can do so both online and offline.

Sante.lu | Ministry of Health Website

1, Rue Charles Darwin, 1433 Gasperich Luxembourg‎

+(352) 24 78 55 00

MON — FRI

8:30 – 11:30 and 13:30 – 16:30

SAT — SUN

Closed

Online application

You can apply online through MyGuichet.lu using a LuxTrust certificate. Using authentication temporarily saves your user data, so you don’t have to re-enter it when needed later, so it is highly recommended.

Offline application

To apply old school way, send your application to the Ministry of Health by widely used post. You will need to mention your address details too, as you will receive an answer.

What documents you need to attach?

PDF

Licence to practice (Application Form) is the main necessary form, that you must accompany by other documents. You can download the form on our website.

Download

EU nationals

If you are an EU or EEA state national, just submit a copy of your ID card to your application as a supporting document.

Non-EU nationals

If you are not a national of an EU or EEA state, submit a copy of a valid residence permit or of a document granting international protection.

Criminal record certificate issued by the country or countries of residence less than 3 months ago;
Certificate of good mental and physical health issued less than 3 months ago by a licensed physician;
For the diplomas, recognized in EU: a copy of the diploma and transcripts (the dentistry diploma for a general dentist, the dentistry diploma and the specialization diploma for a specialist dentist);
For foreign diplomas: a copy of the letter of recognition for the diploma in question and a copy of the license for dental practice as general or specialist dentist in a third country or one of the EU member states;
Certificate of good moral standing and professional honesty issued by Ordre des chirurgiens-dentistes;
Professional CV;
State fee payment receipt. A fee of 450 euros must be previously paid to the following bank account: Administration de l’enregistrement, des domaines et de la TVA / IBAN: LU13 1111 0011 4679 0000 Swift/BIC: CCPLLULL / Communication: AUTOPROFSANTE + applicant's full nameIBAN: LU13 1111 0011 4679 0000 / Swift/BIC: CCPLLULL / Communication: AUTOPROFSANTE + applicant's full name
A copy of a certificate proving the applicant’s language proficiency if their native language isn’t French, German or Luxembourgish.

After submitting the application all messages and notifications related to the changes in your application’s status will be sent to your email address.

3 weeks

minimum time needed for the Medical Board of the Ministry to proceed your application

3 months

maximum time the Board can take to review your documents and give you a feedback and the answer

Can it be faster?

To make the process quicker, make sure your application includes all the necessary information and the documents required.

How can a foreign dentist work in Luxembourg

If you're a third country national, such as for instance Pakistani or Indian, who wants to work as a dentist in Luxembourg, you'll have to follow the general rules set by the Ministry of Health. Be ready for the entire process to take from a few years to a decade: it depends on where you are currently on your path to being a full-fledged dentist.

Language

Degree

Training

License

Employment

Job opportunities and salaries for dentists in Luxembourg in 2024

Dentists are in high demand in Europe as whole and country in particular. As a result, the average salary for a Luxembourg dentist is growing 7% a year, and this is faster than the national average!

Here you can find a table, that will tell you more about what to expect, when you apply for a job as a dentist in the country. Keep in mind, that the wages are correlated with the high expenses when living in the country, or consider working as a cross-border worker.

Salaries in the dentistry sector

Qualification	Approximate salary
Dental Hygienist	€30,000–50,000 per year
General Dentist	€50,000–80,000 per year
Specialist Dentist	€100,000 per year
Median for all qualifications	€128,500 per year
Average for all qualifications	€136,200 per year

What are median and average?

The median salary is the middle value in a list of salaries, meaning half of the salaries are above it and half are below it. On the other hand, the average salary is calculated by adding up all the salaries and then dividing by the number of salaries. Median gives a more middle-ground perspective.