TN seeks nod to open two new dental colleges

TN seeks nod to open two new dental colleges

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 17.12.2020

Tamil Nadu has sought permission from the Dental Council of India to start two dental colleges in Virudhunagar and Pudukottai for 2021-22 admissions. This is likely to increase the number of dental seats in the state by 200.

Until this year, the state had just one medical college – the Madras Dental College and Hospital in Chennai affiliated to Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University with 100 BDS seats. “We will add 200 more seatstothe matrix if we get permission from the apex body,” saidhealthsecretary JRadhakrishnan.

Besides offering better and free oral health to people in rural areas, the proposed government colleges will help more studentstotakeup dentistry,he said. Every year, while all seats in government dental colleges are taken, many seats in self-financing dentalcolleges remain vacant. For instance in, 2017-2018, at least 265 seats in self-financing colleges were vacant and the following year it rose to  392.

In June this year, at the end of three rounds of counselling, more than 1,000 BDS vacant seats in self-financing dental colleges were vacant and the state selection committee extended phase-1 of the single window counselling for undergraduate dental admissions by three days. The committee said 417 of 1,070 government seats and 640 of 690 management seats were vacant. Some colleges have even agreed to convert some of their management quota seats into government quota to woo students.

Many students who cleared NEET decided to retake tests so they can get admissions in government medical or dental colleges. This is because the fee structure in self-financing dental colleges can go up to Rs 2.5 lakh compared to Rs 11,610 in Madras Dental College.

Government, however, thinks training more dentists and establishing facilities will help the government take tertiary dental care to people in the rural areas. “Several studies have shown tremendous improvement in public health with good oral hygiene practices.Diseasesin the mouthcan be an early indicator to several non-communicable diseases. New colleges will help us achieve this,” said director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu.

Several senior dentists say that this move will offer better career options to dentists. “Despite the shortage in the number of dentists, many don’t have adequate jobs. A small fraction of the population takes dental health seriously. Most people don’t make annual visits to dentists. Only strong infrastructure and government policy can change this,” said senior dentist Dr SM Balaji.