Licensing a Dental Clinic in Egypt: Steps, Documents and Authorities
In short: Licensing a dental clinic in Egypt has two steps: register the clinic with the branch Dental Syndicate, then get the licence from the health directorate's private practice office, applying through the Ministry of Health's digital licensing system. The basis is Law 51 of 1981. The "35 square metres for the first unit" rule comes from a Palestinian decree, not Egypt.
What are the steps to license a dental clinic in Egypt?
- Check the conditions for registering the clinic with the syndicate. According to the dentists' guide published on the syndicate's website (file created in 2019), you must have been registered with the syndicate for two years, or have ended your government assignment or resigned before then, or show that you do not receive a clinic allowance.
- Prepare the lease or ownership contract. The same guide asks for a lease with its date certified at the real estate registry (al-Shahr al-Aqari), stating that the purpose is a clinic and that its term is more than one year, or an ownership contract with a validated signature or registered.
- Register the clinic with the branch syndicate in your governorate, in person or through an official power of attorney, according to the guide, and pay the registration fee and the required subscriptions up to the end of the year.
- Put together the licence file: the clinic's syndicate registration certificate, a copy of the contract, a copy of your licence to practise, proof of a contract for medical waste disposal, a sketch of the clinic and a list of its equipment.
- Apply to the private practice office (al-Ilaj al-Hurr) of the health affairs directorate that covers the clinic's area. The licensing and coding system for non-governmental medical facilities offers a service called "issuing a digital licence for a facility, first time/renewal".
- Ask about any extra local step in your governorate before you open, as procedures may differ from one governorate to another, and do not open the clinic before the licence is issued.
Prepared by the Synora team, based on the sources listed at the end of this guide. Last updated: 30 September 2026.
This guide brings together what we found in official pages and published legal texts. We did not check the texts against the Official Gazette, and some official files (such as the Ministry of Health’s PDF files) could not be read, so we do not quote anything from them. Rules change, so confirm with your branch syndicate and the private practice office before taking any step.
Which authorities are involved in licensing a dental clinic?
- The Egyptian Dental Syndicate (the branch syndicate in your governorate): registers the clinic first.
- The private practice office (al-Ilaj al-Hurr) of the health affairs directorate: issues the clinic licence after the clinic is registered with the syndicate, according to the syndicate’s guide.
- The Ministry of Health and Population: runs the digital licensing system at psdigit.mohp.gov.eg, which includes a search for licensed facilities by name, type, specialty and governorate.
What is the legal basis for the licence?
The basis is Law 51 of 1981 on the regulation of medical facilities, as amended in 2004 and 2006. The main points in the text published on LawHub (an unofficial version):
- Article 1 defines a private medical clinic as a facility run by a single doctor or dentist licensed in their profession, who may be assisted by colleagues of the same specialty. It defines a specialised clinic as one for doctors of different specialties under joint management. The term “shared clinic” that people commonly use does not appear as a category in this text.
- Article 2 prohibits operating a medical facility without a licence from the relevant governor after it is registered with the relevant medical syndicate.
- Article 3 requires a facility for dentistry to be run by a licensed dentist.
- Article 16 (bis) provides for closing a facility that operates before it is licensed, and allows a fine to be imposed.
Which documents are required?
According to the syndicate’s guide (a file dated 2019):
| Stage | Document |
|---|---|
| Registering the clinic with the syndicate | A lease with its date certified at the real estate registry and a term of more than one year, or an ownership contract |
| Registering the clinic with the syndicate | Proof that you do not receive a clinic allowance, or of resignation, or of ending your government assignment, if you have been registered for less than two years |
| Licence from the private practice office | The clinic’s syndicate registration certificate |
| Licence from the private practice office | A copy of the lease or ownership contract |
| Licence from the private practice office | A copy of your licence to practise |
| Licence from the private practice office | Proof of a contract for incineration and waste disposal |
| Licence from the private practice office | A sketch of the clinic |
| Licence from the private practice office | A list of the equipment in the clinic |
The Ministry of Health also publishes document lists titled “documents for licensing a private clinic” on its licensing services page. We could not read those files, so rely on them first if they differ from the above.
Are there official space requirements for a dental clinic in Egypt?
We did not find an official Egyptian space requirement in the sources we reviewed. Article 7 of Law 51 of 1981 provides that the health and technical requirements and the equipment are set by a decision of the Minister of Health, and we were not able to find the text of that decision.
We want to point out a common mistake: many websites and platforms repeat the rule that “the first dental unit must be at least 35 square metres and each additional unit 20 square metres, with a moist-heat sterilizer”, and attribute it to Egypt. It is in fact taken from Article 7 of Palestinian Cabinet Decision No. 18 of 2011 on the licensing system for private dental clinics and centres. Here is the link to the text in the Al-Muqtafi database at Birzeit University: Palestinian Cabinet Decision 18 of 2011; we opened it and read the article ourselves. The decision is based on the Palestinian Basic Law and the Palestinian Public Health Law, and does not apply in Egypt. So do not base your clinic’s design on it before asking the private practice office.
Did anything change in licensing dental X-ray devices in 2026?
There are two separate matters, and one of them is not settled:
- Law 10 of 2026: published in the Official Gazette (issue 20 (bis), 16 May 2026), according to press reports. According to its published text, it excludes facilities that use X-ray devices in the medical field from the definition of “radiation facilities” and from the fees of the Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority, and states that they are supervised by the Ministry of Health.
- The syndicate’s statement of 30 June 2026: newspapers reported that the syndicate announced the cancellation of the course required to license small X-ray devices and of the requirement to license them, “to be finally confirmed” in the new medical facilities law. In other words, according to this report, the final legal position has not yet been confirmed.
Ask the syndicate and the private practice office if you will install an X-ray device in the clinic, and do not rely on news reports alone.
What happens if the clinic operates before it is licensed?
The published text of Article 16 (bis) provides for closing the facility by decision of the relevant health authority, and allows a fine to be imposed on the facility. We do not give an amount because we have not seen a recent official document stating one.
How much are the fees?
We do not give fee amounts, because we have not seen a recent official document stating them. The published text of Article 2 mentions a syndicate registration fee and allows the Minister of Health to double it, and the figures in the guide in the 2019 file may have changed. Ask the branch syndicate and the private practice office about the current fees.
How does Synora help after the licence is issued?
Synora does not issue or review licences. Once the clinic is open, it helps with daily operations: appointments, the dental chart, billing and patient files. The free plan covers up to 50 patients, one account, one branch and one treatment room. The patient list can be imported from an Excel or CSV file (patients only), and the software runs in the browser with nothing to download. Details are in Free dental software and the getting started guide.
Note: This content is for general awareness and guidance only and is not legal, tax or medical advice. Check with the Dental Syndicate, the Ministry of Health and your accountant.
Sources
- Licensing and coding system for non-governmental medical facilities, Ministry of Health and Population (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Ministry of Health and Population, licensing services page and document lists (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Egyptian Dental Syndicate, dentists' guide (PDF, created 2019, accessed 30 September 2026)
- Egyptian Dental Syndicate, Law No. 537 of 1954 on practising the profession (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Text of Law 51 of 1981 on medical facilities as published by LawHub, unofficial version up to the 2004 and 2006 amendments (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Text of Law 10 of 2026 amending the law on nuclear and radiation activities, as published by Veto Gate (accessed 30 September 2026)
- News report on the publication of Law 10 of 2026 in the Official Gazette, issue 20 (bis), 16 May 2026, Al-Masdar (accessed 30 September 2026)
- Al-Dostor newspaper, report on the Dental Syndicate's statement on small X-ray devices, 30 June 2026 (accessed 30 September 2026)
