CME credits for dentists
earned online
How many credits you have to document, how they are valued and which online courses may state them at all — including the rule we hold ourselves to.
The continuing-education requirement
Dentists working in Germany's statutory dental care system must document their continuing education: § 95d SGB V requires 125 CME credits within five years. The same requirement applies to employed dentists working in that system.
The documentation goes to your regional association of statutory health dentists (KZV). The five-year period runs per person rather than per calendar year, and § 95d SGB V provides for a fee reduction where the documentation is missing.
Independently of that, the professional code of your state dental chamber requires continuing education — with or without a statutory-care licence.
The rules of your dental chamber and your KZV are what count. This page describes the general situation and is not legal advice.
How CME credits are valued
Valuation follows the joint guidelines of the German Dental Association (BZÄK) and the German Society of Dentistry and Oral Medicine (DGZMK). As a rule of thumb, a 45-minute unit of continuing education equals one credit; structured education with a knowledge assessment may be valued higher.
How many credits an individual course carries is not for the provider alone to decide, though: in distance learning the value follows from the clearance decision. That is why the credit value appears on the individual course here, and never as a blanket statement about the catalog.
Online courses and distance learning
A course you work through on screen in your own time, and whose learning outcome is assessed, is distance learning under the German Distance Learning Protection Act (FernUSG). It must be cleared by the ZFU, Germany's central authority for distance learning, before it may be offered.
The ZFU grants that clearance per course, not for a platform. A provider calling itself cleared in general terms says nothing about the course actually in front of you. Where a course carries credits here, the registration number of its clearance is shown on it.
What this means on training.dental
Our catalog holds two kinds of course. Both are complete courses; they differ in whether they may state CME credits.
They contain a knowledge assessment, are cleared by the ZFU and state their credit value along with the registration number on the course. On completion, the certificate carries that credit value.
No knowledge assessment and no stated credits. They pay into how the practice works — procedures, decisions at the chair, what the team knows — and end with a certificate of attendance carrying no credit value.
We state no credits for a course without clearance, not even as a prospect. What a course carries is shown on the course itself, and marked as such in the catalog.
Your documentation
Every completed course automatically produces a PDF certificate in your account. It carries a verification code, so its authenticity can be confirmed without asking us.
Verify a certificateFrequently asked questions about CME credits
How many CME credits do I need as a dentist?
In Germany's statutory dental care system, 125 credits within five years (§ 95d SGB V). You document them to your regional association of statutory health dentists.
Can I earn CME credits online?
Yes. What matters is not the format but the recognition of the individual course: it must contain a knowledge assessment and be cleared as distance learning by the ZFU.
Which training.dental courses carry credits?
Those marked CME. Their credit value and the registration number of their ZFU clearance are shown on the course. Courses marked as practice knowledge state no credits.
Does a certificate of attendance count as proof of credits?
No. A certificate of attendance shows that you completed the course. It carries a credit value only where the course contains a knowledge assessment and has been cleared.
In the catalog, every course shows whether it states credits.
Browse the course catalog