The government should increase the number of dental colleges to make dental education more widely available, said Dr Dibyendu Mazumder, president of Dental Council of India. Mazumder, who was in the city on Friday, visited government and private dental colleges in the city.
Talking to media persons, Mazumder said that there are only 40 government dental colleges in the country while the number of private dental colleges was 250. More government dental colleges will make it possible for more students to study dentistry, he said.
He also talked about various changes in dental education in the country. He said that there will be a single, common admission test for MBBS and BDS courses, and that they were working with all states to streamline the process.
"Further we have re-introduced one -year internship in the 5-year BDS course. Internships were a part of the course till 2007 but they were discontinued afterwards. But we feel that dental students need exposure to field experience and practical knowledge. Hence, we have started internship in the BDS course from the current year," he said.
