Dentists will soon take five rather than six years to complete their degrees if ministers have their way, political sources have told RTL Nieuws.

Ministers hope the move will speed up the education process and help reduce the shortage of qualified dentists in the Netherlands, the broadcaster said.

Every year just 220 students graduate as dentists but experts expect over 40% of the country’s 10,000 practising dentists will stop work in the next 10 years. That means capacity has to be increased to 375 places per year.

However, the sources told RTL, ministers are not keen on expanding the number of places because of the cost. Instead they back reducing the number of study years from six to five.

Ministers will soon meet officials from the dentists association KNMT to discuss the plans, RTL said.