Dental Courses: Eligibility, Syllabus, Colleges, Admission

Dentistry, also known as Dental Medicine/Oral Medicine, is a branch of Healthcare that deals with treating and preventing diseases that affect the teeth and gums.  The Practice of Dentistry can be traced back to the 26th Century B.C. in Egypt, where an Egyptian scribe named Hesy-Re performed dental surgeries on high-ranking officials and even the Pharaohs of that time.  During these unforeseen times, dental care was not considered to be a mandatory requirement to lead the day-to-day life of common individuals as it was sought only at the time of severe dental ailments. Moreover, the financial incompetence and the lack of sedatives in those days resulted in the common folks' negligence of regular dental care.

As time progressed, the knowledge procured by dental practitioners about the discipline raised awareness within society about the importance of preventive and precautionary methods/measures concerning dental care. Furthermore, the advancement of sedatives also paved the way for individuals to treat dentistry as a comfort amidst the chaos that occurs due to dental distress of any sort. 

The need for a remedy towards deteriorating dental health among the populace has led to a need for a large number of well-qualified dentists. For that very reason, the Indian Government established the Dental Council of India in 1949, under the ‘Dentists Act of 1948’. A regulatory body that regulates dental education, dental professions and looks after the adherence towards dental ethics across India. In other words,

• DCI’s approval/affiliation and recognition are mandatory for any institute to provide education about dentistry in India. 
• DCI regulates the dental courses and the curriculum within the course that is to be taught to dental aspirants. 
• DCI’s approval and license are necessary for dental course graduates to be considered as full-fledged dentists.

Dental courses after 12th:

Students who wish to learn about the art of dentistry must first be well-versed in the basic knowledge of biology and its related disciplines. Therefore, only those students who have completed their secondary education in the natural science stream are eligible to pursue a dental course. As of now, there are three levels of dental education that a student must complete to practice dentistry. The first is the undergraduate level. I.e. Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). The pedagogy of this course is designed to cover everything about dentistry. BDS aspirants are first introduced to the basics of dental care and are later guided towards a much deeper understanding of the discipline.

Graduates of BDS are regarded to be eligible for the Postgraduate level. The Postgraduate level is further classified between a Master's Degree i.e. Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) and a Postgraduate Diploma. Both the branches of the postgraduate level offer a structured curriculum that grants its aspirants a provision to excel in a specialisation of their preference. This will provide the students with an opportunity to figure out their interests that will in turn reward them with an opportunity to pursue a successful career in dentistry.

After MDS, comes the Doctorate Dental courses (PhD). MDS graduates who seek to find out more about the domain of dentistry can opt to pursue a PhD in Dentistry. Based on the specialisation, these research programmes will provide aspirants with an opportunity to find answers about the undiscovered part of dentistry or aid in inventing methods to prevent/treat dental ailments or can heed in doing both.

The road to being an exceptional dentist is very challenging. The best way to tackle these challenges is by gathering efficient information about the courses and the specialisation of your choice. Henceforth, here is a list of courses categorised into three levels of academia (I.e. undergraduate, Postgraduate & Doctorate) to help you get closer to your dream one step at a time.