Community Dentistry is a Postgraduate discipline in the Master of Dental Surgery course and it is pertaining to the study of oral or dental health problems of a whole group or community of people living in a same geographical area.

In this three-year PG degree course, candidates will learn about the legal and social aspects of dentistry. They will also learn about conducting of seminars, dental camps, etc…and biostatistics. Even though, MDS Community Dentistry course is offered by a number of private colleges in India, only a few government colleges offer this course and the names of these government colleges along with their intake capacity are given below:

Tamil Nadu:

• Tamil Nadu Government Dental College & Hospital, Chennai – 1 student per year

Karnataka:

• Government Dental College, Bangalore – 4 students per year

Himachal Pradesh:

• H.P. Government Dental College & Hospital, Shimla – 2 students per year

Eligibility for seeking admission to the MDS Community Dentistry course:

To enroll into the MDS Community Dentistry course, candidates must be BDS/MBBS degree holders from an approved institution. It is required that candidates must have obtained not less than 60% of marks in the qualifying examination to apply for MDS Community Dentistry course. All India Level Entrance Examinations are conducted for admission of students to this course and candidates will have to get through the entrance examination to seek admission to the MDS Community Dentistry course in the aforesaid government Colleges.

Syllabus for MDS Community Dentistry Course:

MDS Community Dentistry Course includes clinical, practical and theoretical sessions and the subjects covered in this course are:

• Dental public health & Dental Epidemiology

• Preventive Dentistry

• Environmental Health

• Public Health Practice & Administration Family planning

• Behavioral Sciences

• Public health nutrition

• Public health education

• Epidemiology

• Biostatistics

Future job prospects for MDS Community Dentistry Graduates:

On completion of MDS Community Dentistry course, candidates can join government organizations like Public Health Foundation of India or other government and private-owned dental hospitals. In the case of candidates with interest towards teaching profession, they can look for jobs as lecturers in government/private dental colleges. These professionals can get job opportunities not only in India, but they can also find employment opportunities abroad since dental surgeons are always in higher demand in foreign countries like the USA and the UK. Thus, MDS Community Dentistry candidates can have a very good job prospects in the future particularly when they acquire their degree from the aforesaid colleges that are approved by the dental council of India.