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Status of Dental Colleges in India

A Rejoinder to the Article quoting Dr Pawar in ‘Indian Dental Colleges give better training’.

The article ‘Indian dental colleges give better training’ by Payal Gwalani, (TNN Feb 26, 2012) reporting for the Times News network is quite misleading. I agree with the assessment of Dr Mansingh Pawar who has made the declaration that the 3 Government dental colleges in Maharashtra are good. In fact I would agree that all government dental colleges and quite a few private dental colleges in India are good. But to make a general statement that ‘Indian Dental Colleges give better training’ is a specious argument.

The title itself is vague. When one uses the word ‘better’ it needs to also mention the reference. Better than what? The fact of the matter is that only 40 to 50 of the 291 dental colleges are run by government. If one adds about a hundred good private institutions to the list, it would still account for only 50% of the colleges that can be called reasonably good.

It is important that the public understands the dismal state of the rest of the 50% of colleges
. They are probably the examples of the worst dental colleges and represent the numerous business ventures that have sprouted all over the Indian landscape. The only thing that these colleges have achieved is to add to the proliferation of sub standard dental graduates. This has caused the worst kind of glut and resultant unemployment in the country. The only beneficiaries are the fly by night businessmen who have started these institutions. Many of these institutions have no infrastructure and hardly any patients. Dr Mansingh Pawar is at best delusional when he compares foreign graduates to our own graduates saying that "All through their (other countries) graduation and post graduation, they are busy counselling patients and only attend a handful of them. Our students (in India) have three years of practical, clinical experience, having already attended hundreds of patients independently,". These were perhaps well intentioned wishes of Dr Pawar. But then again, I am reminded of an old saying ‘If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride’.

Let us get realistic. It would have been nice to talk high of our achievements if they were true. However most of us cannot share Dr Pawar’s pride in the general standards of dentistry. Less than 50% of the existing colleges are fit for training world class dentists. It would be a great service if the rest can be shut down in order to restore dentistry to its former glory.

I was further shocked by the following quote made by Dr Pawar "There are plans to make the three government dental colleges of the state, centres of excellence with international standard using high end tools of the trade. The idea is to promote the hospitals attached with them as destinations of dental tourism where high government officials as well as foreigners can come for treatment,". Dr Pawar should understand that Government Dental Colleges are the only places were the poor of this country can seek treatment. They are the islands of excellence only because it offers succor to the poor. It would be sad if even these are ‘promoted’ as destinations for ‘foreigners’ and ‘high government officials’. People holding high position should think before speaking. Most of our problems arise out of the lack of sensitivity in our leaders. The classic example is the sanctioning of new colleges based on spurious statistics claiming India needs 2 lakh more Dentists (also reported by TNN in December 2011).

Silence is sometimes a powerful tool- especially if one is likely to put his foot in the mouth. George Paul