Indian Dental Education in the New Millennium: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

India is poised to be a leader in the global economy in this century. Its population of more than 1.1 billion, however, will challenge both the medical and oral health care systems. The current status of dental education in India has some serious challenges that will need to be modified to be able to produce leaders in the field of dentistry to address these burgeoning needs. Dental students in India are trained to excel theoretically, but there seems to be a disconnect between what is learned and what is applied in the clinics. In the real world, when dealing with patients, problem-solving skills and practical knowledge are necessary. Some of the changes that might bring dental education to the next level in India could include selecting highly motivated students for dentistry, modifying the teaching methodology with some importance given to treatment planning, and introducing research into the curriculum. Changing the current attitude of the faculty, students, and the general population towards dental education is another factor important in the successful transformation.

Addressing oral health disparities, inequity in access and workforce issues in a developing country

“…The WHO recommends a dentist to population ratio of 1:7500. The dentist to population ratio of India, which was 1:300,000 in the 1960s, now stands at 1:10,000. When dental professionals are disproportionately allocated to the private sector relative to a public sector that provides subsidised services, financial affordability also becomes a barrier in the care of the less well off.…”

“…The dentist/population ratio in India clearly indicates that there is a major rural and urban divide in the availability of dentists in India as the dentist to population ratio is 1:250,000 in rural areas. Dental diseases in rural India primarily result from socio‐cultural factors, such as inadequate or improper use of fluoride products and a lack of knowledge about oral health and hygiene, but also result from systemic infrastructure deficiencies that prevent proper screening and dental care to avoid these diseases.…”

Exploratory scoping of the literature on factors that influence oral health workforce planning and management in developing countries

“…Situational analyses from different countries reported an ‘explosive growth’ in the number of dental colleges, mainly in urban areas and an increased privatization of dental colleges . The authors expressed concern that this rapid expansion and lack of government oversight could lead to compromises in the quality of the dental education.…”

The impact of Scientific Initiation on the scientific production of graduate students

“…This study showed that the dental education curriculum should include the process of conducting research to help students to gain logical reasoning skills, which can then be directly applied in clinical dentistry. Thereby, a research component should be the research activity requirement in the undergraduate dental curriculum 19 . Not only India, but also China, underwent a curricular change.…”