Dental education marches ahead with new technology

Nagpur: The Dental Council of India (DCI) President Dibyendu Mazumdar spoke of the latest developments in the field of dental education at a prèss meet held prior to the inaugural session of the 42^nd International Congress of the Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons of India (AOMSI) on Thursday at a hotel on Wardha Road.

Revealing new inclusions he spoke of the introduction of 'Forensic Odontology' (FO) as a subject in Bachelor in Dental Surgery (BDS) and Masters in Dental Surgery (MDS), setting up virtual classrooms and research fellowships for dentistry students across dental colleges in India.
"Including FO as an optional subject in BDS and MDS degree courses has already been approved by the DCI and central government," said Dr. Mazumdar. He said the DCI had laid down stringent guidelines for all government and private dental colleges and hospital to follow.

"Non-compliance with the regulations will lead to cancellation recognition. This is to ensure that all institutes maintain a level of quality in dental health care," said Mazumdar.

The DCI president revealed that most government institutes today were equipped with the latest technology, in apart from a few in states like Punjab.

"There are 42 state and central government dental colleges and hospitals in the country out of a total of 310. Many of them have installed the latest Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and Computer Assisted Milling (CAM) machines which can design and fabricate a tooth within one hour," said Mazumdar.

Mazumdar spoke about the DCI having requested the central government to set up maxillofacial surgery units in all trauma centers in the country. "Also, considering the rise in highway accidents we also recommended the government to set up outdoor patient centers specializing in maxillofacial surgery," he added.

BDS has received a seat enhancement from 24,000 to 26,000 and in MDS the numbers have been raised from 3000 to 6000 stated Dr. Mazumdar.

Chancellor Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana State University, USA, GE Ghali, was also present at the press conference. Addressing the media, he said "India has made more advancement in the dental science than the US. Many breakthroughs in the field have come from here, " reports TOI.

Abstaining from making healthcare comparisons between different countries he said, "Each country must develop their health care system according to its needs. For example, India is leading in cases of oral cancer and has developed new technology through dental research. That is not the case in US. Other South Asian countries where oral cancer is significantly high don't have the necessary system to deal with it."