Armchair philosophy: BDS as a course, is it necessary? Time to think

It was a perfect third Saturday morning, our college gives it a holiday and the sigh of relief it gives me to wake up early in the morning on that day out of routine just to realise that it’s a holiday, is indeed one of the moments to cherish. I usually go on hunting any sweets in the house after I’m done with my breakfast, but this time to realise that this long-time habit has made my molar teeth go a bit sensitive and have developed a few caries (moment of silence!)

After all that, I take on to the Armchair in our house, sit back relax and start thinking of few relevant and innumerable irrelevant thoughts. This time it was about my teeth. I thought, yes of course being a medico, I need to know how to keep my teeth clean & healthy, common sense said me to consult a dentist for treatment. The doctor in me intercepted that, and started speaking, see boy we Doctors cure disease, help patients recover ailments, I said yes; for that we should be fit ourselves, I said yes; we need to know how this body functions first, I said another yes. I reflect upon that for a moment: everyone know teeth is inside the body, agreed, then why the heaven our curriculum isn’t teaching anything about it? I felt sad to realise that even after doing my MBBS we guys go on to become Doctors of entire body except teeth? Yes, it’s a harsh truth. (moment of silence!)

I get to hear that ever growing population in our country has got an increase toll on doctors as government is trying hard to maintain a good doctor-patient ratio to ensure adequate functioning of healthcare, one of the way government strives to do that is by making us sign bond papers prior to admission to serve in government set-up for a specified duration after completion of the course for which we opted using government quota for meritorious students. The thing which haunts me is that, I get to hear how poor those government infrastructures are at some places that if we get posted to serve there, it will nothing less than be a deadly nightmare turning reality. So, how to overcome this problem? I started thinking… I felt one way would be to increase the strength of MBBS seats… that again has an accompanied infrastructure, quality issues, intellectual input and a lot going into it. I’ve seen our Dean dealing with MCI every year regarding various affairs, a mammoth task indeed. So, that’s a lot to deal with. I thought, we need a ready source to tap.

I often happen to see my fellow counterparts learning dentistry for 4 long years as a bachelor’s course, then 3 years as masters, some even go for further specialisation for another couple of years… I wonder every time, is that all worth it at the end? Is dedicating a separate course for teeth alone as a bachelor degree is all that worth at the end of the day? Isn’t it just another part of human body say like bone?... The credibility of this thought was further reinforced. Say, if a medical emergency breaks down somewhere and a Doctor is called upon to work on fields. I would rather confidently say any doctor would be able to serve the purpose irrespective of their specialisation, but how much possible is an emergency for teeth? I don’t see my counterparts in dentistry learn anything more or less than those set of teeth, after all they learn more and more about something less and less! I feel at times they need to know there exists a brain above and body below those teeth! At the same time, how good is to have a doctor who can serve any basic medical need but if a child comes to him asking to remove a milk tooth, he needs refer him to a dentist. See removing a milk tooth is just like say dressing a wound, but how good is to see any common man without formal medical education able to do that but not a doctor? That’s a harsh reality (moment of silence!)

My thought was all about how necessary is a bachelor’s course in Dentistry when ear, nose, throat (ENT); eyes (Ophthalmology) and other nearby structures to teeth can be studied in mere three years of masters after MBBS (of course then comes super-specialisation, it’s optional). I could say it confidently that most of those dentists out there were once an aspiring doctor! I’ve seen many of my friends have taken BDS after they missed an MBBS seat through NEET exam by a few ranks and instead of opting for their desired course in a less popular college they ended up taking BDS in a well-established medical college just out of parental pressure, family pressure, social pressure and what not! How less are they than us? Given another chance I’m pretty much sure they can perform better than what they did, but they just can’t because they opted a field of specialisation when they were supposed to learn basics.

Slowly, connecting the dots, my thoughts kept flowing to the core of my wondering. Is BDS as a course worth doing it?... Isn’t dentistry a subject of specialisation?... How good will it be if we convert all existing BDS infrastructure into MBBS?... Won’t that give another chance for all my fellow counterparts who joined BDS out of pressure and not choice?... Won’t that enrich the existing MBBS curriculum? (if the latter happened, I’m sure my fellow medicos won’t spare me!) … Won’t that open up a specialisation for all those who write PG medical entrances after MBBS?... Won’t it be good to have our Dentists more equipped with medical knowledge?... Won’t that increase the number of Doctors in our country when Dentists become a part of medical fraternity?... Won’t it help government to solve number of Doctor to patient crisis?... Won’t it make our healthcare more holistic?

This is a topic to debate. If taken up, this is an opportunity for Indians to pioneer the cause.

Ah! I sighed… was that a lot of thoughts about something? Before I could reckon, mom told me to get a litre of milk from grocery store… I moved on from my Armchair.