Dentist as a Profession

Among all the professions in the world; Religion comes first and health second. In health; dental profession supersedes all other professions on account of its peculiar character. To carry out profession of dentistry one needs heavy investment and also the materials used are expensive. For this reason the treatment is also expensive and many a times a dental treatment may be costlier than even a heart surgery. Further; similar to getting servicing of your car; you need servicing of your teeth. The set of teeth, muscles and jaw bone and joint together forms a complex chewing machine. Over a period of time as in a grinding machine the grinding surfaces get worn out and have to be refurbished by grooving; similarly; teeth requires regular and periodical grooving to enable chewing and eating efficiency maintained. The process is called occlusal rehabilitation. This would increase the life of teeth and its efficiency of cutting and chewing. People see lots of advertisements of tooth paste and tooth brushes but nobody talks of occlusal rehabilitation. Unless teeth are balanced by periodic and regular servicing the health of teeth, gums, muscles, bone and joint cannot be maintained. In order to impart these services dentists are required. An average dentist can take care of about 1500 patients in a year. In India the availability of patients per dentist is in multiples of his/her capacity; while in most developed countries like USA; Germany; Sweden etc; the availability of patients per dentist is less than the capacity. But the cost of treatment in developed countries is many fold higher and therefore their earnings are better. In India the availability of patients across all economic sectors are high, the cost of treatment is low; availability of patients is high. Even people from developed countries choose India as destination for dental services for good quality and economic reasons. Dentist as a Profession is very good and has very high potential in India. Our Government needs to understand the potential of dentistry as a foreign exchange earner and promote this branch more effectively. The future of dentistry in India is good and would remain good for long period ahead.

Dr.Arun Chamria