Dental Health Sector In India - A Swot Analysis

- Dr Aarti Sharma Kapila

ORAL HEALTH care is an integral part of overall health, however this remains the most neglected part in our country because most of the people visit a dentist only when it is unavoidable. With a very high prevalence of dental disease (approximately 87 per cent), amongst the Indians population the oral healthcare sector is geared for a giant leap provided we generate awareness about dental disease and its consequences as well as about quality dental treatment facilities available in semi-urban and rural areas. Unlike countries abroad, dental treatment is not covered by any of the insurance companies in India. Hence, every dental treatment has to be paid by the individual which in itself is quite dampening as people generally believe that unless a ‘tooth is hurting’ why should they visit a dentist and ‘hurt their pockets.’

India’s healthcare sector is a combination of state-of-the-art healthcare providers to unregistered doctors and unqualified quacks. The situation is the same in dental healthcare too. In order to bridge this gap between healthcare providers and patients, there is a need for a massive increase in dental institutes and their productive capacity. In total there are 310 dental colleges in the country, of which only 40 are government, producing 30570 dentists annually. However, the problem arises when these dentists are not available to the masses at large and remain concentrated in certain regions, predominantly urban. This situation gives rise to problems such as poor quality of dental treatment, ambiguity in dentists qualifications, increased demand in terms of economy and sustainability.

Let's examine the various aspects which characterise dental care in India with a SWOT analysis

Strengths