OPTIONS AND SCOPE AFTER BDS IN INDIA!

For all those who are BDS graduates and still haunting options about what next..!! Here, through this article I will try to help them consider a few points that might help them to reach down a conclusion on their “WHAT NEXT..!!??”
Yes, it is true that market is oversaturated with dentists and it is no news for anybody in and out of the field. Any nook & corner of any city and one can find multiple multi-speciality dental clinics. Now for every fresh BDS graduate this is the question that starts haunting right from the end of internship about what they should pursue hereafter. Most of the students these days obviously straightaway go for MDS right after completing graduation. Which is good, but the sad part is most people don’t do it because they want to but because it’s a trend these days. With so many self financed colleges around it is not even difficult for people with money to grab a seat. So I wouldn’t waste time discussing here cases where people want to do MDS just for the sake of obtaining a degree.
For genuinely seeking some advise cases, I would categorise the options in 3 categories that would be primary, secondary & tertiary options.
Now getting to the point, first I will discuss the most primary & obvious option that’s MDS ofcourse. The biggest dilemma I think majority of us face after deciding about MDS is the discipline or branch/department. Now according to me this is a decision that should be totally based on one’s needs and desires. People who are genuinely interested in academics are the first category of people who should choose to do MDS immediately because without MDS you cannot have a future in academics. And for people interested in only academics can choose both clinical and non department without a second thought according to their interest in subject. Now coming to people who are also interested in practicing should mainly choose from the clinical branches like OMFS, Prosthodontics, Orthodontics, Conservative dentistry & Endodontics, Pedodontics and Periodontics. But even before choosing any of these departments people should do some homework regarding their needs. Coming to the next obvious option that we have – setting up a clinic. Again this is also one of the things that most of us think about. But while taking this big step there are a very few people who are truly aware of the challenges that lies ahead. Thinking that you know it all and really knowing it all has a vast difference altogether. Unless you already have a practicing dentist in your family or in your inner circle it is really tough to understand the real challenge. And if you do not belong to the above mentioned category you ought to do a lot of homework before you take that plunge. The best way I could suggest for that is before starting your own clinic it would be wise to join someone else’s established clinic. But make sure you choose the right clinic. Just joining any clinic will not serve the purpose. Our purpose of joining a clinic is not learning the procedures but to see and understand how a clinic functions. There are a lot of things of utmost importance to run a clinic. For example, we need to understand what are the absolute needs & expectations of our patients, what’s their mentality, what category they belong to, their paying capacity, their potential and how to interact with them to name a few. From clinic point of view, we need to be organized & systematic which starts from arranging our resources & tools to maintaining the records. Another aspect includes dealing with dealers, labs etc. So inorder to run a clinic having a good understanding regarding these things is very important which can be best gained by working with somebody experienced.
Many students or rather dentists who are totally interested in clinical practice also go for short certificate courses like fellowships which does not help them gain a degree but enhances their clinical skills multiple folds. These fellowships can prove to be handy for dentists who love learning new clinical skills and try implementing it in their practice.
Having discussed the primary options after BDS, now we can have a look on what are the secondary options we have.
Recently there’s another trend which has been observed is that people right after their BDS try to get out of the country, move abroad and then pursue with options available to them. Indian BDS graduation degree is not a valid degree in most of the foreign countries. Thus, few options that mainly students focus are dental hygienists, dental assistants, dental technicians etc. a few other students who have a good paying capacity prefer going for DDS (the valid dental degree in USA, CANADA and many other countries of the world). There are a lot of agencies that can help people with information & procedures regarding this. The main reason why students prefer going abroad after their BDS is because this profession is a handsomely paid profession in foreign countries unlike India.
Another option is having a laboratory of your own. Dental laboratories manufacture or customize a variety of products like crowns, bridges, dentures, implants etc. which assist dentists in their oral health care practice. But even for this one need to have a very good knowledge about the subject and also have a good skill or good handwork in laboratory procedures. Moving on to the tertiary options;
There are a lot of BDS graduates who even opt for courses like Hospital Management after their graduation. But again this step would lead you to a field totally beyond dentistry so I would recommend you all to do a thorough research before taking this decision.
Another offstream option is coaching students for their entrance exams, but there is a huge setback in it. It is very unlikely for any MDS aspirant to trust a BDS graduate to train them for MDS entrance because they haven’t done it themselves. So my advise is to keep this as their last resort unless they are extremely confident of their strong theoretical knowledge, keenly passionate about teaching and confident of being able to attract students with their teaching skills. But they can obviously try to coach students who are aspiring to study medical after their 12th.
And at last there are pharmaceutical or consultant firms which hire BDS graduates for content writing and editing kind of stuff. These are total offstream jobs to do. But I am just providing this information because people would hardly be aware of existence of any such thing.
Hope I could be of atleast little help.