As I was writing a detailed response to Jay’s post on dentistry in India, I realized that I had enough questions to write my own post! Now, I’m nowhere near the dental expert or enthusiast that Jay is, but the Internet is a wonderful thing!

The video that Jay posted was absolutely disgusting (check it out and you will know why) but it did bring some questions to the forefront like, what education do these street dentists have? Do they go to dental school or are they self-taught? Also, for the dentists who are educated, what are the standards for education? Is the education comparable to the United States and are the standards similar?

Well, my research showed some insight on this topic. Apparently dentists coming from India to the United States have to take additional classes to earn their D.D.S. or the D.M.D. Additional classes don’t sound so bad until you hear about how few of these foreign dentists get into medical school in advanced standing in the United States. Ultimately, they have to mostly repeat their degree, which took five years to complete in the first place. Indian dentists earn a Bachelor in Dental Surgery (BDS), which takes four years, plus an internship for an additional year. They do have the option to specialize in an area of dental surgery, which takes three additional years to earn a Masters.

As Jay can probably tell you in his sleep, it’s a slightly more complex process in the United States, which can start all the way in high school with the type of science classes you choose to take. High school is followed with a Bachelor of Science in a natural science like Biology or Chemistry. THEN, after perhaps a short one-year MBA program (not required), you head off to dental school for four years. Give or take a year of school here and there, you are sitting in a classroom for at least eight years (not including high school). Compare that to the India education curriculum, and the United States at the very least wants more of your money and more years of your life.

Ultimately, the India BDS is equivalent to the Doctor of Dental Surgery here in the United States. Eight years of education compared to only five just to practice dental surgery! However, the street dentists don’t even go through the education process to practice. Many learn the practice from their parents and several, if not most, don’t have their dental licenses. This is actually very illegal in India. These street dentists still continue to practice however, offering dental services to those who can’t afford the alternative.

It’s interesting to see that the education standards are quite different from country to country. The question now is if the quality is equivalent, and if so, are so many years of dental school are even necessary to be an effective dentist?

- Danielle Steussy

Sources:

http://www.jdentaled.org/cgi/content/full/69/4/461

http://www.educationindiainfo.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentistry_throughout_the_world#Dentistry_in_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_dentistry