10%-55% BDS, MDS seats vacant across India for over five years

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For over five years now, both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) dental courses across Indian institutes have seen anywhere between 10% and 55% seats going vacant, year on year. Private dental colleges in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Punjab are the worst hit, say industry insiders.

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Data from the Dental Council of India (DCI) accessed by The Hindu showed that between 2016-17 and 2022-23 there were 1,89,420 Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) seats offered, of which 36,585 seats remained vacant. During 2017-18 to 2022-23, of the 38,487 Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) seats available, over 5,000 remained vacant.

Though seats remain vacant, the Central government is aggressively adding dental colleges to boost the future healthcare of the country. As per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare figures, the number of seats for dental education between 2014 and 2023 increased by 14% in the BDS degree and by 48% for the MDS degree. This expansion has been attributed to the Dental Council of India taking steps to improve the quantity and quality of dental education. In 2021-22, India had a total of 27,868 BDS seats and 6,814 MDS seats as per Ministry data.

Salaries stagnant

But health experts and industry insiders say that lack of professional growth opportunities and stagnant salaries are among the main reasons for students not opting for dental courses for several years now.

Ajay Sharma, a senior consultant dental surgeon at Max Hospital, New Delhi, said that a decade ago, dentistry was a booming profession in India. However, owing to the lack of cutting-edge technology and infrastructure in government colleges as well as the shortage of patients in hospitals attached to private dental colleges, students often graduate with a handicap, he said.

The current reality is that there are very limited government sector jobs. There is also low pay in the private sector — as low as ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh per annum. He said if the issue of providing proper jobs is taken care of, dentistry would flourish.

“What we are witnessing today is a saturation in metro cities and a lack of awareness of dental care in tier-2 cities. This will have to change for young dentists to flourish. Today, after BDS, several dentists are opting for an MBA or a masters’ degree in public health administration,’’ Dr. Sharma added.

As per the Ministry of Education’s National Institutional Ranking Framework, in 2023, of the top five dental colleges, the only government-run institution is Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi. The rest are privately run and charge over ₹3 lakh per year for the five-year undergraduate BDS programme.

After a spend of a minimum of ₹15 lakh, “there are graduates who have worked for as little as ₹1,000 a month under seniors to learn a new technology or get experience with patients. This is happening at a time when MBBS or even Ayurveda graduates earn over ₹20,000 a month,” said Divyesh B. Mundra, a dentist turned public health professional. A PG degree means more investment in education, but not necessarily a better salary. Setting up a private establishment for a new dentist costs upward of ₹5 lakh.

“There is a salary difference across public and private sectors and regions in the country,” said Dr. Mundra. A dentist resident’s salary in AIIMS, Delhi, for instance, ranges between ₹10.8 lakh to ₹13.2 lakh per year, but there are few jobs available.

In 2019, the Dental Council of India had recommended the lowering of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) (UG) marks. Formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT), this is a countrywide entrance test for students who wish to pursue UG degrees across the medical spectrum, including MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH (Ayurveda, yoga, Unani, Siddha, homoeopathy) courses in government and private institutions. It is also taken by those intending to pursue primary medical courses abroad.

The following year, the NEET (UG) cut-off for admission to the BDS programme was revised following a Supreme Court order, by 10 percentile points. Medical Counselling Committee data showed that as many as 9,09,776 candidates have qualified for BDS admission based on the revised NEET cut-off scores. Earlier, 7,71,511 candidates had qualified for BDS admission.

However, the Ministry has said that it has taken several measures to improve the quality of dental education. “A standardised dynamic curriculum for global parity is under way for dental education and there is the provision of online programmes and webinars by the DCI to provide lectures and demonstrations on important subjects,’’ it said.