Home Print this page Email this page Small font sizeDefault font sizeIncrease font size
Users Online: 4166

 

Home About us Editorial board Search Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Contacts Login 
     


 
 Table of Contents    
JOURNAL REVIEW  
Year : 2011  |  Volume : 1  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 73-75
Dental education in India


Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Maduravoyal, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Click here for correspondence address and email

Date of Web Publication22-Nov-2012
 

How to cite this article:
Syed Kuduruthullah S K, Thubashini M. Dental education in India. J Educ Ethics Dent 2011;1:73-5

How to cite this URL:
Syed Kuduruthullah S K, Thubashini M. Dental education in India. J Educ Ethics Dent [serial online] 2011 [cited 2024 Mar 29];1:73-5. Available from: https://www.jeed.in/text.asp?2011/1/2/73/103680



   Indian Dental Education in the New Millennium: Challenges and Opportunities Top


Satheesh Elangovan, Veerasathpurush Allareddy, Fiza Singh, Priyank Taneja, Nadeem Karimbux

Journal of Dental Education 2010:4 Vol 74.

The authors discussed about various aspects of dental education in India, such as the admission procedure, the dental curriculum followed, clinical settings, classroom settings, faculty training in India, the attitudes and mindset of the dental students' and research in dental school setting. They have also discussed about the increasing number of the private dental colleges in the country, and the significant role of caste reservation in the admission process. Admission process is through common entrance exams (government or private) at state and national levels. The authors however recommended that separate exams for students interested in dentistry should be considered rather than common entrance exams for all health professions. Also, the Scoring system as practiced in United States for dental admission should be encouraged, rather than the ranking system followed here.

Dental curriculum in India is spread over a period of 5 years of undergraduate dental training, which includes one year of compulsory internship. The knowledge of the students is evaluated through oral and written examinations concentrating on theory, and practical examinations focus on assessing the dental skills. Students should be well educated and also made aware of various different treatment plans possible by similar scenario, for their success in clinical setting. Follow-up of the case is very important as it enables the student to evaluate his or her work. Problem based learning should be introduced in the current curriculum to improve student knowledge. Though the number of dental graduates in India is increasing, very few members participate in research training activities, or apply for PhD degrees. Thus, in an endeavor to promote dental research, the Dental council, and the government of India, should both go hand in hand to encourage the faculty members to achieve a PhD degree, and establish themselves in research training. Moreover, research activity should be encouraged at the undergraduate - levels also. Students should be allowed to work together with residents so that they will be able to learn, interact and become familiar with treatment planning with a multi-specialty approach. Realistic changes should be brought in the current dental curriculum, so that the needs of growing population are met by good clinicians.


   Self Reported Dental Health Attitude and behavior of Dental Students in India Top


Rushabh J Dagli, Santhosh Tadakamadla, Chandrakant Dhanni, Prabu Duraiswamy and Suhaskulkarni

Journal of Oral Science, Vol: 50(3), 267-272,2008

The authors has done an evaluation on attitudes' and behavior of undergraduate students' in India, regarding oral health, was done based by a self-administered questionnaire (Hiroshima University-Dental Behavior Inventory HU-DBI), developed by Kawamura. The questionnaire consisted of dichotomous response format (agree/disagree) of 20 questions. This survey was conducted among 372 students, which were enrolled from all the four academic years at Darshan Dental College and Hospital, Rajasthan. Out of these 372 students, 282 students participated, of which 124 where males and 158 were female students. Factors such as age, gender and level of dental education are also taken into consideration. The results were compared with previous surveys among Japanese employees, Mongolian dental students, Israel dental students, Chinese dental students and also a previous study among Greek, Finnish and Australian dental students. It was found that oral health awareness among Indian dental students is poor when compared to the students in other countries as mentioned above, which has to be improved in order to serve the population.


   Professionalism and Challenges in Dental Education in India Top


Barry Shwartz, Anant Bhan

Indian J Med Ethics, 2005;2(4)

The authors have discussed about various challenges and professionalism in current dental education in India, including various dental colleges, especially private, ethics education, social inequities and various solutions. They have stated that graduation degree alone will not provide professionalism, and the latter would also depend upon the way the people are served. Dental colleges in India are not uniformly distributed, and sadly, many colleges are have been started today with the sole intention of making profits, and do not fulfil any of the requirements for the students, such as related to infrastructure; and, sufficient training materials, clinical settings, clinical exposure and research laboratories. The Dental Council of India and the Government should proactively monitor all the upcoming Dental colleges, and ensure that they provide all the necessary facilities, so that the students are well trained in both, theory and practical.

Ethics education is considered important in current curriculum, as it enables the students to follow principles and codes of ethics not only in their practice, but also in their life. It also helps to keep up the standard of their profession. Social inequities play a major role in India. Access to undergraduate dental education should be opened to rural population and people belonging to low socio economical status for improving the education scenario throughout country, and making such educational degrees as open to all. Authors discussed about various programmes that are carried out in Ontario, Canada, which are easily accessible even to the rural Canadians. They have developed rural residency programmes and opened medical schools in rural areas. If similar programmes are carried out in India as well, the aspiring students in rural areas would also be able toparticipate, and there would be a better availability of dental education to all.


   Occupational Health Problems in Modern Dentistry: A review Top


Peter A Leggat, Ureporn Kedjarune and Derek R Smith

Industrial Health 2007;45:611-21.

The authors have considered modern dentistry, having a lesser occupational hazardous when compared to other professions; however, there are certain occupational health hazards which do exist, and cannot be ignored. These include percutaneous exposure incidents; transmission of infectious diseases; musculoskeletal and ergonomic disorders; exposure to potentially harmful radiation; exposure to dental materials which can cause allergies, dermatitis and respiratory hypersensitivity; eye and hearing problems; general health disorders; and, stress. A number of methods such as proper sterilization of instruments, ergonomically safer practice methodology and personal protective measures to prevent cross transmission are being used.

Percutaneous exposure incidents can be responsible transmission of blood borne infections from the patient to the health care professional, and can be caused via needle stick injuries and sharp pricks. They can lead to both cutaneous and mucosal involvements, the latter usually having more severe outcomes. Further, cross infections with bacteria, fungi and viruses is also common during dental treatments. Sterilization helps prevent the spread of infections. All dental instruments should be sterilized before use. Common sterilization procedures include autoclaving, dry heat and chemical sterilization. Implementation of Personal protective measures is necessary for each and every patient. It is also important to take the proper medical and dental history of each patient.Use of gloves and face mask to prevent cross contamination is mandatory. Musculoskeletal painor back pain is the most common problem encountered by most of the dental practitioners which may be influenced by the posture and working habits. Various surveys have been conducted among dentists in Israel, Australiaand United States of America, Danish dentists and Norwegian dental hygienists. All these studies pointed towards a high prevalence high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in these professionals. Adjusting the work positions and practice techniques ergonomically is the key to avoiding the development of musculoskeletal problems.

Radiographic equipments are seen in almost all the dental clinical setups and radiographs play an important role in the treatment aspect. Dental staff and personnel should protect themselves from exposure to both, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, by taking various precautionary measures. Dental biomaterials that are used in day to day practice should be safe and biocompatible. Amalgam consists of mercury as one of its important components which can act as a hazard if improperly stored or handled. Thus, proper handling and disposal techniques are important for amalgam. Dermatitis due to allergy to latex gloves and other chemicals in dental materials is common in the dental field. Respiratory hypersensitivity also has been reported in dental practitioners due to the various components of dental materials. Eye problems including eye injuries have been reported. Hearing problems are also encountered due to the constant noise levels created by the use of dental equipments. It is important to keep the dentists aware of the hazards and health problems which they may encounter during their practice, and the precautionary methods by which they can avoid them.


   Dental Education in India and Japan: Implications for U.S Dental Programs for Foreign - Trained Dentists Top


Takashi Kombayashi, Karthik Raghuraman, R Raghuraman, Shinji Toda, Makoto Kawammura, Sheppard M Levine, William F Bird

Journal of Dental Education 2005

The authors have discussed about the scenario of dental education in India and Japan, and on various other aspects such as the dental school system, curriculum, examination and dental licensure. Further, they have also discussed about the curriculum of United States dental education programs for foreign -trained dentists. In India, the first dental college and hospital was started in 1883 and in 1890 in Japan. In India, the first institution offered a diploma course of licentiate of 2 years duration in dental sciences. Later it was gradually increased to 3 years and then to 4 years. The Dental council of India (DCI) acts as a governing body for the dental education.

Dental schools in India are classified into government dental schools, private dental schools associated with government, and exclusively private dental schools. The current course pattern is of 5 years duration with one year of rotating internship, after which the graduates are awarded the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (B.D.S), In Japan, the dental schools are of three types - government, local public and private, and the dental course is of 6 years duration. Also, the students on the satisfactory completion of the course are awarded the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S). Further, with respect to India, the dental schools admit students in the months of April and October, and the students should have completed their higher secondary examinations with aggregate marks of 50% or above. Entrance examinations for medical faculty are conducted at state and national levels. In Japan, there are two steps to gain admission to a dental college, one being passing a general entrance examination, and another one being the recommendation of the high school principal. In the final sixth year of their dental course, there are national level exams carried out for the dentists with a maximum score of 200 and minimum of 50. Also, in India exams are necessary and a requirement for dental school graduation and dental licensure; whereas, in Japan exams are required to proceed to the next phase of dental education.

Implant and laser dentistry are taught in dental schools in Japan, however not in India. In India, amalgam is the standard care protocol used, whereas in Japan, composite resin restorations are more popular. Two hand-piece systems are employed by both the countries. Nationwide examination is carried out in Japan which resembles the National Board Dental Examination of United States, and is conducted in a computer - based format. The recent examination concept in Japan is oriented towards objective structured clinical examination pattern. National examination for dentists is conducted in Japan which makes them eligible for practice. These foreign dentists work in U.S dental offices for better exposure; and hence, the curriculum of U.S dental program should be in such a way that the applicants are selected not only by interviews but also by technical examinations and their experience with dental materials and equipment.

Top
Correspondence Address:
S K Syed Kuduruthullah
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Maduravoyal, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
India
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/0974-7761.103680

Rights and Permissions




 

Top
 
 
  Search
 
  
    Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
    Email Alert *
    Add to My List *
* Registration required (free)  


    Indian Dental Ed...
    Self Reported De...
    Professionalism ...
    Occupational Hea...
    Dental Education...

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed4046    
    Printed334    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded477    
    Comments [Add]    

Recommend this journal