Dental manpower in tamilnadu state, india and its implications – a systematic trend analysis

Aims and Objectives: To reconnoiter whether dental manpower in current scenario in Tamilnadu is competent in delivering oral health care services to the public at large and to procure elucidations to most important remonstrance confronted in that aspect. Material and Methods: The current data was obtained from the website of Dental Council of India, Central Bureau of Health Intelligence and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and further data regarding number of dental educational institutes across Tamilnadu, the dentist registered in the Council, the number of dental institutions, number of seats in graduation and post-graduation courses were obtained from the database of Dental Council of India. These data were entered in Excel for descriptive statistics. Results: Among a total of 553 Postgraduate positions, 42 (7.59%) positions are offered by government sector and 511 (92.40%) positions are offered by private sector withthe estimated dentist population ratio of TamilNadu for the year 2018 as 1:3666.7. In North zone, for a population of 32.7% (2,36,33,167) there are around 18 (62.3%) dental educational institutes whereas for a population of 18.78% (1,35,53,283) there are around 3.4% (1) of dental educational institutes. Furthermore, the dentists employed in government sector is 569 (2.57%) compared to all remaining 21490 (97.4%) dentists who are self-employed or in private sectors. Conclusion: The challenges faced by the dental professionals are really grave in nature. The current system prevailing will lead to disastrous consequences unless intervened with emergency without negligence to save the dignity of the profession.