Dentists disappear during pandemic as states fail to submit data

After most states stopped providing data on practicing dentists, the Dental Council of India (DCI) recently wrote to the health secretaries of the states to submit it at the earliest.

Dental college graduates having BDS degree are eligible for registration as dentist. According to the DCI, states have different rules for renewal of registration, mostly every five years or in some states every year.

“Most of the states have not submitted the data of registered dentists for the year 2020-21, which is ideally updated every April, despite reminders by the DCI. Therefore, the government has written to the health secretaries asking their respective state dental councils to immediately send the data to the DCI for maintaining the Dental Register of India,” said Dr Anil Kumar Chandana, executive member of the DCI, which is a statutory body. It is under the Union Health Ministry.

“While most dental surgeons are in private practice, many have not renewed their registration. Dental education degrees were also delayed due to the pandemic, with many not registering to practice and choosing something else to earn bread. Despite requests, the government did not post dentists on Covid-19 duty, leaving many dentists jobless, leading to missing data on available dentists,” Chandana said.

According to the National Health Profile 2018, the number of dentists registered with the DCI is over 270,000. Of this, only 7,239, which accounted for only 2.7%, serve the government sector. According to data from the Dental Register, there are 81,000 undergraduate students, including third and fourth year students, and interns, and 18,000 dental postgraduates involved in patient care.

During the pandemic, the government issued routine guidelines for dentists, initially suspending all except emergency procedures, and later shifting to protective measures. “The dentistry stopped suddenly on 22 March 2020 as the lockdown made it feel like there was a serious problem at hand. Dr Anmol S Kalha, Associate Director, Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics at Max Healthcare, said all clinics were closed, institutions were closed and advisories were given highlighting the risks of dental care.

According to practicing dentists, new techniques, materials and techniques have expanded India’s dental business, which was valued at about $1.36 billion, directly or indirectly employing about 2 million people.

“The place was crowded before the pandemic and alarm bells sounded about lack of job opportunities. Less than 50% of graduate dentists were registering with dental councils for clinical practices. The rising cost of infrastructure and equipment, and the concentration of dental practices in metropolitan cities, had begun to create a negative aura for the profession, which on the one hand was being accepted as a part of mainstream healthcare, Kalha said.

According to a study by the Network Cancer Aid and Research Foundation, around 30% of dentists across India had to close their practice altogether, while another 43% attended only emergency cases. The working hours of dentists during the pre-Covid times were also reduced to 4 hours per day from the usual 10 hours of work time. About 81% of dentists reported fewer patients, ranging from more than 100 patients per week to fewer than 50 patients a week.