Most of the educators in the field of dentistry in India wish to preserve their status quo and therefore are leading the field of dentistry in India towards stagnation. However, it is true that the Dentistry in India has achieved several milestones since the establishment of Ahmed College of Dental by Dr. Rafidin Ahmed, the first college for dentistry in India which came up in the year 1928

1. Dentistry in India- An Overview<br />http://www.srmdc.com/<br />Most of the educators in the field of dentistry in India wish to preserve their status quo and therefore are leading the field of dentistry in India towards stagnation. However, it is true that the Dentistry in India has achieved several milestones since the establishment of Ahmed College of Dental by Dr. Rafidin Ahmed, the first college for dentistry in India which came up in the year 1928. This college proved its merit in the difficult task of establishing itself as a reputable and well set-up institution for dentistry, which functioned on lines of modern science.<br />Dentistry in India received the endorsement of the legislature with the establishment of Indian Dental Council, as per the Act Of Dentists, 1948 in the year of 1949. In this act, some amendments were made in the rear of 1992 in order to restrict the increasing number of colleges for dental in the various parts of the country without any consent of Central Government and the Health Ministry. <br />As per the statistics, there are around 283 colleges for dentistry in India, which produce almost 18,000 dentists each year. The training for dentistry in India starts with a course of BDS which is of the duration of 5years and includes a period of 5 years of study which comprised 4 years studies and 1 year of internship prior to 2008.<br />Central government and others are running out of these 283 colleges of dentistry in India. 39 are run by private sectors. In many of the states of India, almost 15% seats available in the Dental colleges run by the state government are given out to students on basis of the national level examination, which is conducted by CBSE. The authority of the state may fill the rest of seats. Many of the universities tend to conduct selection tests for admission of eligible candidates. Most dental colleges run by private sector have different criteria of admission and usually ask high fees.<br />The Postgraduate phase of dentistry in India is for a period of three years. One can do masters in any of the subjects like Prosthodontics, Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, Periodontics, Conservative Dentistry, Endodontics, Orthodontics, Oral Pathology, Community Dentistry, Pedodontics, Dentofacial Orthopaedics and Preventive Dentistry. Usually selection in most of the postgraduate programs is done through entrance examinations, which are highly competitive. Dentistry in India also has introduced several certificates in the field of Dental Hygiene and mechanics for duration of 2 years.<br />Unlike the developed countries of the world, Dentistry in India is highly competitive. Dentist being produced are not only highly professional but also have great expertise in their fields. Also unlike other countries the services of a dentists are easy to find and highly affordable. Despite this, several street dentists in India operate without any valid license, charging only a fraction of what professional dentists charge. These people are a great threat not only to the niche field of dental care but also to the patients requiting dental services in India.<br />