WHY DENTISTRY IS UNDERRATED IN INDIA??

So my story is also similar to majority of other dentists in India who entered into bds because they were not getting a good government medical college or if they were getting a good private seat but they can’t afford it because of very very expensive medical(mbbs) colleges fees which almost goes from 50 to 60 lakhs to even crores, which is quite a very high amount for a middle class family to afford, so in India you can get into a good mbbs college with either of these condition's

super intelligent

belong to a super rich family

so if you fulfil any of the above criteria you get into mbbs

but then comes the category who does not belong to any of these. so some of them opt for bds as a carrier thinking that (chalo dr. toh lagge naam ke aage.) atleast you will get a doctor designation.

So those students enter into dental world by killing their dreams of mbbs and pursue bds. but they always have grudge inside that (kaash hame bhi mbbs karne ko mill jatii ya kaash ham thodi aur meant kar lete)i wish i could also get a good mbbs college if i have done more hard-work.

As everybody in India thinks bds is done by those who are less intelligent and not able to get mbbs so doing this. but people don't realise that bds is much difficult than mbbs because in bds you have to study both medical subjects like anatomy, physiology,biochemistry,pharmacology,etc along-with all the dental subjects. so total 19 subjects(8 medical and 11 dental).

so as I have shared I have also entered into dentistry because i was not getting a good govt. mbbs college and my family cannot afford the fees of private medical college. but after leaving my dreams behind I pursued dentistry with full passion and hard work and always bagged a top rank in my college throughout all the bds years and in-fact in my bds final year I was topper of my college and also a state ranker. As in dentistry only knowing theory is not that important because it is a practical field you have to treat by people by performing various dental procedures like extractions, rats, fillings, scaling,etc. so as i was reaching my this stage of practical learning in my final year covid enters and my whole practical exposure during the final year and internship starts sinking. but then also as the situation became normal during my last few months of internship i joined private clinic in my hometown as a trainee and then from there I got to know the harsh reality of dentistry and dentists in India and some of them are as follows-

1. BDS staff are too much underpaid in india if they are working as an employ in any dental clinic or in organisation. they get salary of just 10–15k which is even less than the interns stipend at mbbs College.
2. And if they wanna open there own dental setup then that costs then a lot and even if they open a clinic they have to face a lot of market competition because there are too many quacks sitting in the industry which provides the cheap treatment without maintaining any sterilisation and treatment protocols.
3. Next comes the higher study barrier in India there is very few govt. mds colleges with less than 700–800 mds seats both clinical and non clinical. so here again you enter into a lot of competition again and at this age of 23,24 you don't have the patience to again sit empty and prepare without earning any penny.
4. After all these barriers if you are able to get a good mds seat and finish off your mds and then again enters into the dental market you end up being on the same stage which you were before 3 years that whether to setup a clinic or search for a good job.

so if you open up your own clinic (avg. at the age age 27–28) it takes approx. 4–5 years to get established and get recognition inspite of all the market competition. by this time your reach approx. 35 years of your age at which your family responsibilities also increase and you starts getting more frustrated because there is not that much of output of your hard-work which you have put up in the dentistry because in India today also an extraction cost is 100 to 200 rupees and rct cost is less than 3000 whereas in other western countries like usa one rct costs app.1000 to 1400 us dollars ( 80 thousand to one lakh).

And one drawback which I forgot to mention that by the age of 40 whether you earn millions or not but one thing you will definitely get is cervical pain and back pain. so if you are planning to pursue dentistry as your carrier without any family background in dental world please think twice or even thrice before taking any decision.

One more harsh reality which i forgot to mention is constant leg puling of one dentist by another sitting in the dental market by reducing the price of services they prevail which results in overall price reduction of services in market.

Following are my suggestions which should be opted by higher authorities to create dentistry a respectful profession in India.

generate enough jobs in government sector.

provide license to substandard private colleges.

regulate proper salary in private sector jobs.

take adequate steps against Quackery.