India is known to have more dental practices than anywhere else in the world. However this hasn’t stopped the Government from developing dental health further. In short, it wants to create more dentist jobs.

Speaking with local Indian reporters, Ghulam Nabi Azad who is India’s health and welfare minister said:  India is number one in the world to have so many dental colleges, both in private and government sector. Every year, around 20,000 students pass out from these colleges.

“This area would certainly get saturated at one point, so we have to find more ways and means to create more employment opportunities.”

He added: “We are planning to create more job opportunities for dentists in the hospitals at districts and block levels.

“Our health ministry is trying to formulate plans about how to absorb dentists at the lower level. It will be a win-win situation for everyone and will take care of the problem of educated unemployment in the country.”

India is fast becoming one of the major business powers in the region with more and more people seeing the need for better dental health. Not just that, as one of the largest democracies in the world with around 450 million people, providing better health care including better dentistry is a challenge.

However the major challenge at the moment appears to be too many dentists and too few jobs available.

Addressing this problem is Mr. Azad’s major aim. He told reporters: “In the coming years, rather than in months, we are coming up with a solution for this, so that our boys and girls are not left disheartened. We are also giving more emphasis on the quality of dentistry.”

India has two other major problems. About 80% of oral cancer is due to chewing tobacco, while around 12% of 60 – 65 year olds are losing their teeth or have lost them completely.