Launch your career as a dentist
Your provisional visa
Your provisional visa
For step one, you don't need to do anything. Isn't that great! After obtaining your master's degree, the FPS Public Health will automatically send you your provisional visa. This allows you to focus all your attention on finding the perfect approved internship and internship master.
Your provisional NIHDI number
Your provisional NIHDI number
Once you have found an internship placement, submit an internship plan to the Healthcare Agency. The certification committee will look at your internship plan and will give a positive or negative advice. Do they approve of your plan? Then you will receive your provisional NIHDI number 'candidate dentist in training' from the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance.
Your administrative obligations
Your administrative obligations
You're looking forward to it. But before you can really start as a dentist in training, you have to take care of some administrative obligations. You can arrange this yourself or entrust it to the Acerta's entrepreneurs' desk.
- Your enterprise number
Every self-employed person must register in the CBE register of the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. After registration you will receive your company number. - Not subject to VAT. Or are you?
As a dentist (trainee) you are not liable to pay VAT. Unless you offer other activities/services in addition to your specialization. Then there is a chance that you are mixed VAT liable . If in doubt, ask our experts for advice. - Your social security: indispensable
You are legally obliged to affiliate with a recognised social insurance fund such as Acerta. Why? Because you have to pay social contributions just like employees. For employees, this is automatically deducted from their wages, but you as a self-employed person must pay this separately. Every quarter, Acerta calculates the exact amount of your social contributions. And it's best to pay this on time: this guarantees your social rights such as health insurance, pension, child benefit, etc.
The social insurance fund charges an administrative fee for these calculations - and with Acerta this is the lowest on the market
Do not forget to inform your health insurance fund of your new self-employed status. Thus, your insurance against smaller health risks is also in order right away.
A good bookkeeper: not compulsory, but worth its weight in gold
Even as a dentist in training you can deducta number of professional expenses. Just think of your membership fee for the Flemish Professional Dentist Association (VBT), car expenses, telephone costs, etc. You declare your actual costs or pay a statutory lump sum. Get advice from an experienced accountant on what is the best choice for you in your startup year.
Your insurances
Your insurances
As with other self-employed (para)medical professions, as a dentist (trainee) you are obliged to take out professional liability insurance with civil liability. You have to take care of this before you start your internship! Should you make a professional error and the patient claims compensation, you better be properly insured.
Take out a (Social) VSPSS (Voluntary Supplementary Pension Scheme for the Self-Employed)and opt for the Life Pension Plan - NIHDI of Acerta. With these formulas, you save for your retirement in advance. Isn't that a little early? Not at all! To fully enjoy your retirement as a self-employed person, you cannot start saving early enough.
Create an additional safety net through insurance guaranteed income. Although you will receive a monthly payment from the health insurance fund in case of a long-term inability to work, this amount will not be sufficient to cover all ongoing costs. Via the guaranteed income insurance you will receive an extra payment every month.
Your internship
Your internship: administrative to dos
Are you doing an internship in general dentistry? Then you're off the hook after one year. If you choose 'periodontology' or 'orthodontics', your internship will take three and four years respectively.
- Within a month after the end of each year of training, you must submit an internship report to the Health Agency.
- Are you following a specialisation in periodontology? If so, in the third year of your internship you should add a list of the number of hours of external internship as an appendix to your internship report.
- Are you following an orthodontic speciality? In that case, in the fourth year of your internship, you will submit an evaluation form in addition to your internship report.
What about after your internship?
What about after your internship?
Your application for certification
Have you completed your internship successfully? Congratulations! Make sure you submit your certification application to the Healthcare Agency within fourteen days. They will check whether your application is complete. If not, they will let you know which documents you need to complete. Then the Certification Committee will assess your application and you will receive their positive or negative advice within thirty days via email and a message in your eHealthbox.
Your official NIHDI number
With a positive advice from the Certification Committee, the NIHDI provides you with your official NIHDI number. From now on, you will include this number on all your official documents. You also automatically benefit from the NIHDI social status. This means that the NIHDI pays an annual contribution to the company or recognized institution with which you have concluded a pension agreement and/or a replacement income in case of invalidity.
Good to know
Good to know
Your certificates for provided assistance and prescriptions
After each consultation, you provide your patient with a certificate. This allows him or her to get a partial refund of the costs of the check-up or intervention from the health insurance fund. You can easily order your certificates online at medattest.be.
Prescriptions you print must comply with the guidelines of the NIHDI. Is your printer not working? Don't panic: you may still write your prescription by hand. You can print your personalized, pre-coded prescriptions through MyRiziv or through a professional printer.
Standby services
As a dentist, you are required to sign up for the General Dentist on-call service. Sign up online for standby duty as soon as you start.
Collection of medical waste
It goes without saying that you do not throw your medical waste into the ordinary rubbish bag, but have it collected by a registered collector. Check whether you have the right special containers.
A FANC license
Do you use one or more medical x-ray machines in your dental practice? Then you must have an establishment and operating license granted by the FANC. In addition, you must also inform the police and the municipality of your activity.
MyCareNet
MyCareNet is a simple, reliable and secure way to exchange information with health insurance companies. Join us, install the right software on your computer and make sure the platform is always accessed with a secure internet connection. To make everything run smoothly, you'll also need an eID card reader.
Compulsory continued education or accreditation
An accreditation is not the same as the certification you received from the Healthcare Agency. It is in fact a quality label that you receive from the NIHDI. For this, you must meet a number of requirements. For example, you must undergo regular continued education and perform at least 300 dispensations (patient contracts) per year.
An accreditation cycle lasts five years. At the end of each cycle the NIHDI checks whether you have complied with the conditions in recent years.