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The general apathy toward oral health in our public health system stems from the skewed national policies that are framed without consulting dental health experts, who are in a better position to put forth concrete policies based on a scientific rationale and evaluation of oral health statistics. The presence of dental public health personnel in oral health policy‐making will ensure that oral health is given the due importance it deserves.
In India, the role of the public health dentist is curtailedto that of case finding or aligns to teaching profession.In this process, focus is shifted from the larger goal of advocacy for oral health. This can largely be attributed to the deficiencies in the current competencies of public health dentist which is limited to the areas of health needs
assessment, data collection, and analysis. Hence, there is a need to broaden the subject spectrum from being merely assessment oriented. This will ensure that the public health dentist has not only assessment skills but also expertise in advocacy and policy‐making which are
the three‐core functions of any public health personnel.
An amalgamation of these three‐core areas to the presentday curriculum as followed in some of the developednations can provide a strong foundation for public health professionals. The curriculum existent in the United States of America shows that a specialist in dental public
health has sufficient training to ensure understanding and the practical application of concepts involved in the planning, formulation, implementation, operation, and evaluation of dental public health programs and also an understanding of the processes through which
health policies are developed and regulated. This training enables him to manage oral health programs and assumea leadership role in public health. At the end of thistraining, the dental public health professional acquirestechnical skills in a wide array of areas encompassing planning, marketing, communications, human resource
management, financial management, advocacy building,management of information, evaluation, quality assurance, and risk management. Hence, a completeand more extensive program of this nature prepares thepublic health dentist to be able to deliver his duties better and to the fullest of his abilities.
A curriculum as suggested here not only holds apromising change for the country’s health statisticsbut also holds tremendous potential for the publichealth dentist. We believe that this change willenable a public health dentist to be in capacity tochange the perception of health planners in thecountry. The other side of this change is the sea of
opportunities ahead of the public health dentist.Undergoing training in the core areas of public healthwill facilitate these professional to take up positionsas epidemiologist, health managers, health specialists,
health economists, health educationists, health promotion specialist, and many more. They may haveopportunities in international and nongovernmental institutions as well.
Seeing equity in health is every public healthprofessional’s motto. It is up to the fraternity and the public health dentists, in particular, to see howthey would like to contribute toward the oral health of the Indian population. A systematic change in the curriculum could enable the public health dentist to contribute to public health in a larger way. It is time to stop searching for public health in dentistry instead
take up the role of a public healther – the true role of a
public health dentist.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
