[The profile of the dentist in science and practice: based on the new dental licensure act]

The profession of dentistry developed essentially based on the rapid progress of research in general. With the law of dentistry in 1952, the dentist became an independent profession in Germany. The EU directive 2005/36 for recognition of professional qualifications now regulates the requirements for practicing as a dentist in the European Union. Today, dentistry is a scientifically based medical discipline which has increased its preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic possibilities especially over the last 3 decades. The implementation is carried out in dental practice under the framework and basic conditions of present health care policy and conditions. A new order regulating licenses to practice dentistry is under development in which the first 2 years will be nearly identical with the studies of medicine and the medical licensure act. The closer orientation toward medicine is reasonable as more multimorbid patients will have a need for dental treatment in daily practice and co-operation with physicians will be more frequent in the future. New occupational profiles in dentistry are proposed above the level of a graduated dentist as well as below but also in completely new noncurative areas.