Open AccessGrowing quackery in dentistry: An indian perspective
Author(s) -
Sukhvinder Singh Oberoi,
Aroma Oberoi
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
indian journal of public health/indian journal of public health
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.381
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2229-7693
pISSN - 0019-557X
DOI - 10.4103/0019-557x.164661
Subject(s) - quackery , government (linguistics) , reputation , medicine , incentive , population , socioeconomic status , economic growth , alternative medicine , environmental health , political science , law , economics , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , microeconomics
Dental disease restricts activities in school, work, and home and often significantly diminishes the quality of life for many children and adults, especially those who have low income or are uninsured. Though the overall dentist population ratio in India is 1:10,000, at present in rural India, one dentist is serving 2.5 lakhs of people. Only 15-20% of people in India are able to get dental services through national schemes, and 80-85% are spending money from their pockets, providing an ideal breeding ground for quackery into dental practice in India. Dental quacks cater to the lower-middle and lower socioeconomic classes that cannot afford qualified dental practitioners. A large number of people visiting these quacks seek care only when in pain, have a restricted budget, and are not very quality conscious. Dentistry has come a long way in the last one and a half century; today it is ranked as one of the most respected professions. It is incumbent upon dentists everywhere to protect this hard-earned reputation by weeding out quacks from among them. The government should urge fresh graduates to practice in rural areas and provide more incentives to them. Public health dentists should take the initiative of adopting more community-oriented oral health programs to increase the awareness among rural populations.