Is there a shortage of dentists and dental assistants in Belgium?
For dentists, the Flemish and Walloon governments say yes, though the picture is more nuanced than the headlines. Belgium had 11,521 dentists with the right to practise at the end of 2025, but the number per inhabitant is falling, and they are unevenly spread. The federal government is raising the quota from 307 to 424 new dentists a year from 2031. For dental assistants no official figure exists: it is not a recognised profession, and it appears on none of the 2026 shortage lists.
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How many dentists does Belgium have?
On 31 December 2025, 11,521 dentists had the right to practise in Belgium and lived here. That counts the right to practise, not occupied chairs: a dentist who has stopped but kept the right is still in it. A large share are 65 or older: 38.5% in Flanders, 37.5% in Wallonia and 24.4% in Brussels.
Per inhabitant the number is falling: from 7.8 dentists per 10,000 inhabitants in 2020 to 7.2 in 2023, according to federal health ministry figures reported by VRT NWS.
| Region | Dentists on 31/12/2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Flemish Region | 6,662 | 57.8% |
| Walloon Region | 3,330 | 28.9% |
| Brussels-Capital Region | 1,529 | 13.3% |
| Belgium | 11,521 | 100% |
FPS Public Health, HWF annual statistics 2025 (STATAN), data on 31/12/2025 (in Dutch)
Who says there is a shortage?
The governments, in plain words. In February 2026 the Flemish government spoke of a historic shortage of doctors and dentists in Flanders, and the Flemish health minister told the Flemish Parliament in May 2025 of shortages and long waiting lists at dentists. Since March 2026 the Walloon government and the French Community count dentists among seven care professions in persistent shortage.
The federal Planning Commission is more careful. It sees a current shortage of orthodontists, and an uneven spread of dentists that is particularly acute in Wallonia. It does not use the word shortage for general dentists, but it is raising the quota.
The professional associations disagree on the cause. The Flemish VBT expects three to five more difficult years. The French-speaking SMD says there have never been so many dentists, and points to distribution, more women in the profession and shorter working weeks.
What is the government doing about it?
Letting more dentists in. Belgium sets, per language community, how many candidates may obtain a dentist title each year. For 2030 that is 307. For 2031 to 2036 the Planning Commission advised 424 a year, and on 13 May 2026 the Council of Ministers approved a draft royal decree with those numbers. That is about 38% more, by our own calculation.
Entry to dental school is rising too. In Flanders, 277 students may start dentistry in 2026, after 2,488 registrations for the entrance exam. The French-speaking entrance exam admitted 272 in August 2026, against 186 a year earlier. Anyone starting now will not be in a practice for several years.
One group sits outside the quota: dentists trained entirely abroad. The Planning Commission itself calls that unequal treatment.
| Period | Flemish Community | French Community | Belgium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quota 2030 | 199 | 108 | 307 |
| Advice 2031 to 2036, per year | 266 | 158 | 424 |
VRT NWS, record number of registrations for the entrance exams, 23 May 2026 (in Dutch)
How many practices have stopped taking new patients?
Nobody knows. No official figure exists, not at the health ministry, not at RIZIV/INAMI and not in the regions. The figure that circulates, six in ten, comes from a 2023 phone sample of 40 dentists by the VRT programme Terzake, 25 of whom had a patient stop. That is reporting, not a statistic.
What is certain is that the press reports waiting times of weeks to months, in Flanders and in Wallonia.
Is dental assistant a protected profession in Belgium?
No. Dental assistant is not on the federal list of recognised health care professions, no law or royal decree governs it, and the title is not protected. A practice may hire anyone as an assistant, and no diploma is legally required.
Two professions with similar names are recognised, and they are something else. The dental hygienist has been a health care profession since 2017. The practice assistant, since late 2023, supports doctors, not dentists.
What an assistant does is set out in the Flemish occupational qualification of 2026: reception, the diary and urgent appointments, recalls, records, sterilisation and chairside assistance. Acts in the patient’s mouth are reserved by law for the dentist, and the nuclear safety agency FANC states that a dental assistant cannot act as an authorised person for X-rays.
Training exists but is optional: a one- or two-year adult education certificate in Flanders, a one-year work-and-study course in Brussels and Wallonia, and a French Community certificate in dental practice reception and management.
FPS Public Health, recognised health care professions (in Dutch)
Is dental assistant on a shortage list?
Not on any list for 2026. The Flemish VDAB list names neither dentist nor dental assistant, only dental technician. Le Forem in Wallonia lists dentist but not dental assistant. Actiris in Brussels lists neither.
That does not mean a vacancy is easy to fill. VDAB itself notes that jobs off the list can still be hard to fill. It is just that nobody has officially counted how many assistants work in Belgian practices, or how many posts are open.
VDAB, shortage occupations 2026, published 1 February 2026 (in Dutch)
What does it mean for your front desk?
Fewer hands for the same work, and the front desk feels it first. Of the tasks in the occupational qualification, the phone, the diary, urgent appointments and recalls are the work that pulls an assistant away from the chair every time the phone rings.
That is the part an AI dental receptionist can take on: answering the call, recognising the patient, booking, rescheduling and offering a freed slot to the waiting list. Sterilisation, chairside assistance and the patient in pain at the desk stay with a person. How to refill an empty slot faster is in reducing dental no-shows.
Questions practices ask
Is there a shortage of dentists in Belgium?
The Flemish and Walloon governments say so, and the federal government is raising the quota from 307 to 424 new dentists a year from 2031. The federal Planning Commission speaks mainly of a shortage of orthodontists and an uneven spread, strongest in Wallonia. At the end of 2025, 11,521 dentists had the right to practise.
What diploma does a dental assistant need in Belgium?
None, legally. Dental assistant is not a recognised or protected health care profession in Belgium. Courses exist, in adult education in Flanders and as work-and-study courses in Brussels and Wallonia, but a practice may also hire without one.
May a dental assistant take X-rays?
Not as an authorised person, according to the FANC. Acts in the patient’s mouth are reserved by law for the dentist, and the Flemish occupational qualification excludes patient-related medical-technical acts for the assistant.
Does Tilcao replace a dental assistant?
It takes on part of the front desk: the phone, WhatsApp, the diary and the recall and waiting-list messages. Not chairside assistance, not sterilisation, and not the patient in pain, who is passed to a person.
Tilcao is the operating system for dental practices in Belgium: its AI receptionist answers patient calls and WhatsApp messages in Dutch, French and English, and books, moves and cancels appointments in the practice’s own diary.