Dentist trained outside of the EU/EEA
Only persons duly legalised by Valvira are allowed to practise as dentists. Valvira grants the right to practise the profession of dentist on application to dentists trained in Finland and abroad.
Steps in the legalisation process:
- Recognition of dentistry degree
- Completing practical training at a health care operating unit
- Completing competence examinations at a university
- Restricted practice rights with a limited licence for at least one year
- Legalisation (right to practise dentistry independently in Finland)
Recognition of dentistry degree
Fill in the application form (pdf). Send your application with attachments to Valvira. If you submit all the relevant documents with your application, the application process will be quicker. The processing period is calculated from the time when Valvira has received all the required documents and reports. Please do not send your application or attachments by e-mail in advance, because this will slow down the processing of your application.
The processing of an application in Valvira is subject to a fee. A fee is also charged for a withdrawn application. By submitting an application, you agree to the fees. Please check the prices at end of the instructions, under “Fees”.
Send your completed application and appendices by mail to:
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health
VALVIRA
PO Box 43
FI-00521 Helsinki
You must supply officially certified copies of the documents listed below (1–4). Copies can be officially certified by a notary public in Finland or in another EU or EEA Member State, or by a Finnish mission in other countries. Copies issued by a notary public outside the EU/EEA and furnished with an Apostille or Grand Legalisation are also acceptable. You must submit to Valvira, by mail, the copies that bear the original stamp and signature of the notary public or Finnish mission.
Please attach the following documents to your application:
- Passport, identity card issued in an EU/EEA Member State, alien’s passport or refugee travel document (proof of your identity and nationality). Please read the instructions on our website if you do not have a Finnish personal identity number.
- Degree certificate and the official e-mail address and mailing address of your educational institution
If you give the contact details, Valvira may verify the legitimacy of your degree. This verification may delay the processing of your application. You do not need to submit an officially certified copy if Valvira verifies your degree directly with your educational institution. If Valvira is unable to obtain the required information directly from your educational institution, you need to submit your degree certificate, verified by Apostille or Grand Legalisation.
OR
Have your degree certificate (diploma) legalised in the country where your completed your education, by Apostille or Grand Legalisation. In this procedure, the position of the person who signed the degree certificate and their right to sign that document must be verified. Find out from the foreign ministry or other body in your country of education how to legalise your degree certificate (diploma). - A certificate verifying that your right to practise the profession in question has not been restricted or revoked (e.g. Certificate of Good Standing). This certificate must be no more than three months old when received by Valvira. You must submit such a certificate from every country where you have been legalised to practise your profession. If you have practised your profession in a country where practitioners of that profession are not registered, then you need to submit an affidavit from the competent authority in that country stating that practitioners of your profession are not registered in that country, or some other reliable testimonial of the matter.
- Translations into Finnish, Swedish or English of the documents listed in points 2–3.
The translations must have been produced by an authorised translator in Finland or in another EU/EEA Member State. Authorised translators in Finland can be found through the online service of the National Agency for Education. If the translator is not an official or authorised translator in an EU/EEA Member State, the translation may nevertheless be acceptable if the translator’s status is confirmed by Apostille or Grand Legalisation.
Valvira may request further clarifications if necessary. The application documents will remain in Valvira, and it is not possible to get them back after a decision has been made. If you request for documents to be returned to you while the application process is ongoing, you must send in replacing documents that meet the formal requirements. This will significantly slow down the processing of your application.
In most cases, the processing period will be at least 4 months. The processing period is calculated from the time when Valvira has received all the required documents. If Valvira has to send you a request for further information or if Valvira has to verify your qualification, then processing your application will take significantly longer.
Once you have received a decision of recognition of your degree, you may begin the practical training required by Valvira. Valvira will not credit any practical training that you have done before the recognition of your degree. Internships must be completed in either of Finland’s official languages, Finnish or Swedish.
Valvira accepts as dentistry internships any such internship completed at a health care operating unit maintained by a public body. The internship must last at least three months as a dental intern or at least six months as a dental assistant working as a partner with a dentist. Valvira may also separately specify the duration and content of your internship. For more on dentistry internships, please see our guideline (pdf). Download the dentistry internship study journal (in Finnish) (pdf).
The internship must be a full-time position with at least 30 hours per week or a half-day position with at least 18.5 hours per week. In case of a half-day position, the internship must be lengthened in duration so that the hours accumulated are equal to an internship in a full-time position. The minimum length of an internship period at any one facility is one month (30 days). An internship may consist of periods at several facilities. You must submit a statement from your employer for each of your internship locations.
The following shall not be accepted as internships: observing the operations of a facility as a visitor; serving as a volunteer employee at a facility; or undergoing a general introduction to Finnish working life (integration training) arranged by the immigration authorities or employment authorities.
Valvira will not arrange an internship for you. You must obtain an internship yourself, for example by contacting a suitable health care operating unit. You do not need permission from Valvira to enter into an internship. While in an internship, you are not considered a health care professional and may not treat patients independently.
You must have sufficient oral and written proficiency in either the Finnish or Swedish language.
You must demonstrate this language proficiency at the latest when you register for your first clinical examination. For instructions on how to demonstrate sufficient language proficiency, visit our website.
Further information on language examinations on the website of the National Agency for Education.
Competence examinations are held by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases at the University of Helsinki. You may take your first examination once you have acceptably completed an internship and demonstrated sufficient language proficiency. Competence examinations must be taken in Finnish or Swedish. For further information on examination arrangements and registration dates, visit the website of the University of Helsinki.
The competence examinations include theoretical and practical tests to find out whether your knowledge and skills in dentistry are consistent with the level of competence required for clinical work in Finland. In order to establish whether you are able to work in Finnish health care, your knowledge of Finnish health care legislation will be tested.
The University of Helsinki recently made changes to both the theoretical sections and the practical tests of the competence examinations for dentists. These changes were introduced as of the examinations held on 18 April 2023.
Registration
Register for your first examination with Valvira and directly with the university. You must sign up with Valvira at least one week before the university’s registration deadline.
Fill in the registration form (in Finnish) (pdf).
Please attach the following documents to your application:
- passport, identity card, alien’s passport or refugee travel document (proof of your identity and nationality)
- copy of your language certificate
- internship certificate
- a statement from the internship supervisor evaluating your performance
Send your completed registration form and appendices by e-mail to: [email protected].
Please note that e-mail is not recommended for sending confidential information. You can send a secure e-mail via the Valvira secure message service. Further information on how to deliver material to Valvira by e-mail can be found on our website.
OR send your completed registration form and appendices by mail to:
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira)
PO Box 43
FI-00521 Helsinki
Please do not send registration documents to Valvira in advance. If you have registered for an examination but are unable to attend, please contact the University of Helsinki.
Once you have completed the competence examinations, you must work with a limited licence to practise for at least one year. You must find a job for yourself and apply to Valvira for a limited licence to practise in order to work in that job.
Practising as a dentist on a limited licence means that you must work under the direction and supervision of another legalised dentist at a designated health care facility. Valvira may grant this licence for a maximum of 6 months at a time. Your employer’s statement concerning your previous licence period will be considered when granting extensions to your licence. You may work at both public and private health care facilities on this licence.
If, when working as a dentist on a limited licence, you compromise patient safety and/or have not acceptably performed your assigned job duties despite being supervised, Valvira will require you to supplement your professional competence as a dentist by undergoing a dentist’s internship, or alternatively working as a dental assistant, before you may apply for a licence again. You will also be required to do this if your employer transfers you to an internship or assigns you to a dental assistant’s job in the middle of your licence period. To supplement your professional competence, you must acceptably complete a period of at least 3 months working full-time in a dentist’s internship, or alternatively a period of at least 6 months working full-time as a dental assistant. You must be employed for a consecutive period of at least 30 calendar days.
When working on a licence, working 30 hours or more per week is considered a full-time job. Working 18.5 to 29 hours per week is considered a half-day job, and the number of days completed will be halved. Work periods consisting of single days, periods of fewer than 30 consecutive days or part-time work (less than 18.5 hours per week) do not count towards the required working hours.
Applying for a limited licence
Fill out the application for restricted practice rights as a dentist (in Finnish) (pdf).
You must append to your first licence application a certificate from the university showing that you have acceptably completed all competence examinations.
For your subsequent licence applications, you must append a statement from your supervisor during the previous licence period.
Submit the application to Valvira at least 3 weeks before the planned start of your job.
Send your completed application and appendices by e-mail to: [email protected].
Please note that e-mail is not recommended for sending confidential information. You can send a secure e-mail via the Valvira secure message service. Further information on how to deliver material to Valvira by e-mail can be found on our website.
OR send your completed application and appendices by mail to:
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira)
PO Box 43
FI-00521 Helsinki
You may be granted the right to practise dentistry independently in Finland after you have practised on a limited licence for 1 year. To apply for the right to practise dentistry independently, send an application to Valvira.
Fill in the application form (pdf).
You must append a statement from your employer on your performance to the application.
Send your completed application and appendices by e-mail to: [email protected].
Please note that e-mail is not recommended for sending confidential information. You can send a secure e-mail via the Valvira secure message service. Further information on how to deliver material to Valvira by e-mail can be found on our website.
OR send your completed application and appendices by mail to:
National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira)
PO Box 43
FI-00521 Helsinki
Valvira can grant you the right to practise your profession independently if your employer is in favour of it. If not, Valvira will require you to continue practising on a limited licence or to undergo another internship. A limited licence may be granted for no more than 2 years.
A dentist granted the right to practise dentistry independently may work as a dentist at public and private health care facilities and as a self-employed professional.
Valvira charges a fee for every decision concerning licences to practise a profession, including when an application is denied. Half the processing fee is payable if you withdraw your application.
Types of fee include:
- Recognition of dentistry degree EUR 440
- Limited licence to practice EUR 870
- Granting the right to practice after granting a limited licence EUR 440
- Legalisation EUR 2080, if you have not had a licence yet
The decision on the right to practise a profession will be issued in Finnish or Swedish. The invoice will be sent separately by post after the decision.
You will find the information on the rights to practise granted to you in JulkiTerhikki or JulkiSuosikki.
Rights to practise granted may be viewed in the public information services for social welfare and health care professionals (JulkiSuosikki and JulkiTerhikki, respectively) after the decision is issued or the registration is made. The register data are updated once a day.
A right to practise granted for a fixed term will be visible in the public information service only while it is valid, as with the registration for an adaptation period.
More information on the official registers of professionals underlying the public information service is available on our website.
Valvira may send you any requests for further information, certificates and decisions electronically as a Suomi.fi message if you have registered in that service. Suomi.fi messages may only be used for matters that are currently pending. You may register for Suomi.fi messages at the suomi.fi website or by downloading the Suomi.fi mobile app.
In application matters, we will only deal with the applicants themselves. However, an applicant may authorise an agent or an assistant to act on their behalf in the matter of their application. In this case, the agent or assistant must present a power of attorney authorising them to act for the applicant. The power of attorney may be an e-mail or physical document sent by the applicant, stating that the applicant authorises the person in question to act for them in the matter of the application. However, attorneys-at-law and public legal aid attorneys do not need to present said document unless specifically requested.