DT News - India - Stop unauthorized courses or face strict action, warns Dental Council of India

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 20 April 2018

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New Delhi: India; In its notice dated 12th April 2018, Dental council of India (DCI) has recognized that several dental courses conducted by certain institutions in the country are wrong on moral, ethical and legal grounds.

Asserting that dental courses conducted by unauthorized institutions pose a huge hazard to patient’s general and oral health as they could be technically wrong and ineffective. More over the competence of the dentists conducting such courses is a cause for concern.

In the executive committee meeting that concluded on 6th April 2018, facts regarding certain person, authority or institution imparting the dental qualification without any prior and valid permission as contemplated under the Dentists Act, 1948 were noted.

It was noticed that many institutes or doctors in the country run these month-long certificate courses. The candidates then mislead patients by mentioning these courses on their letterheads, and boards. DCI is now in the process of streamlining the practices and also making strict guidelines for the courses, which will be released in the coming two months. The doctors providing these courses may also get barred according to sources.

Such an act of conducting illegal courses/training to dentists may attract the relevant provisions (Section 51 and Section 52) of Dentists Act, 1948, which provides for punishment to such authorities/institutions conducting illegal courses/training
to dentists.

This notice from the DCI has brought about mixed reactions from the Dental fraternity.

Trending now, on social media platforms, is opinion from senior members of the fraternity who feel that DCI has no such powers to curtail the improvement or renewal of knowledge and skills from qualified persons. They feel that such a memorandum will only retard the quest for knowledge and skills essential for improvement.”

On the flip side some other senior members of the fraternity feel that this is a good move by DCI to curb the mushrooming of dental courses conducted by ill trained personnel. However they do not approve of the blanket ban.

Dr.Priya Titus , practitioner in Mumbai, reflects upon the notice and says" After my BDS I needed to enhance my skills as a clinician. I attended various skill enhancement courses in Periodontics,Pedodontics, Oral surgery, Implants etc. This has helped me become a better clinician. How else could one learn the latest in the field ?”

“ We need to regularize courses because of the sheer number of them today. This is to ensure standards of dental education in India.” emphasizes Dr.Deepil Mehta who conducts courses in aesthetic smile designing and is a mentor to many. He adds, “ A lot of courses are wrongly rewarding fellowships and Diplomates to participants. So a regulatory act is important and I feel that it's a good move by the DCI” ,

Senior dental practitioner and an international speaker Dr.Sandeep Singh adds an interesting view . “ I'm happy that DCI has finally decided to regulate this aspect of dental education in india.”, he's says. “ There are several courses in the country today which are being conducted by dentists who have very little experience in the field and this is detrimental to the all”.

“ Nevertheless we must understand that there are so many dental colleges in the country and yet there are dental courses cropping up everyday. This is to meet the demand. BDS AND MDS graduates today do not get an opportunity to learn many things during their course. And once they pass out they feel the need to learn and upgrade their seriously lacking clinical skills.” he opines.

Another senior dentist says “ We conduct dental courses of high standards. Most of us in the team have trained for many years both in India and abroad. And every year we attend at least 2 two international conferences to keep ourselves updated. And we then share our experience gained over the years with our participants through our courses. I feel DCI must ensure that the dentists conducting the courses should be well trained, experienced and updated.”

The notice has brought out some important questions. Such as, who can or cannot conduct courses? What is the criteria to be able to conduct or organize courses? How can one upgrade their clinical skills? And, can DCI prevent or ban anyone from conducting courses?

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