A sintering apparatus (4) for sintering at least one workpiece (2), more particularly a dental workpiece, having a sintering chamber (18) for receiving the sintering workpiece (2) during sintering, wherein the sintering chamber (18) is delimited by a base surface (6) of the sintering apparatus (4) on which the workpiece can be placed during sintering, wherein the sintering apparatus (4) has at least one gas feed (5) for introducing protective gas into the sintering chamber (18), wherein the gas feed (5) is on the side of the base surface (6) that faces away from the sintering chamber (18) and the base surface (6) has at least one flow-through portion (14) which is permeable to the protective gas to allow the protective gas coming from the gas feed (5) to pass into the sintering chamber (18).