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| Year : 2009 | Volume
: 20
| Issue : 4 | Page : 393 |
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| Continuing dental education |
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B Sivapathasundharam
Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Pathology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai - 600 095, Tamil Nadu, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
| Date of Web Publication | 29-Jan-2010 |
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How to cite this article:
Sivapathasundharam B. Continuing dental education. Indian J Dent Res 2009;20:393 |
The constant effort put forth by the Dental Council of India (DCI) to upgrade the standard of dental education is laudable. In my earlier editorial in this journal, in 2006, I have suggested refresher courses and continuing dental education programs for practicing dentists.[1] Incidentally, DCI introduced Continuing Dental Education Regulations in 2007 and it came into effect from January 1, 2008.
It would be better if DCI defined the award of credit points still more clearly. As per the DCI notification dated September 13, 2007,[2] a day-long conference carries six points. But most of the conferences, state conference or a national one, are usually conducted for a minimum of two days and the participation certificate is usually given at the time of registration. Instead, the conference organizers can arrange to give the certificates with the credits points mentioned at the end of each scientific session.
DCI can release a list of accredited speakers based on their teaching experience, practice/ research experience in the particular field, scientific publication and the like.
Publishing in a scientific journal, whether PubMed indexed or non-indexed, definitely involves a lot of effort with regard to conceiving a concept or formulating a hypothesis, defining the methods, reviewing the literature, and preparing a manuscript. The time taken between the start of the work and its printed version is at least six months. More than that, a publication adds something to the existing scientific knowledge. Considering this, credit points should also be awarded for the publication.
Presently the number of conferences, seminars, and workshops taking place per year is more when compared to the yester years. But most of them are specialty conferences and not much beneficial to general dental practitioners. The practicing dentists have to depend only on the CDE program of Indian Dental Association (IDA), state and district branches, to upgrade their knowledge.
DCI, in its draft guidelines, has suggested the state dental councils to liaise with IDA and other institutions to conduct programs related to asepsis, infection control, jurisprudence, hepatitis, CPR and life threatening emergencies by engaging medical faculty; these programs should be free of cost to the participants. However, the respective state dental councils limit their duty only to register and renew dentists. As suggested by the DCI, it should come forward to conduct such programs throughout the respective states by coordinating with state and district branches of the professional bodies, teaching institutions, government organizations and corporate hospitals.
Further, the state dental councils could even publish and circulate news letters or compact discs on the latest events in dentistry to the dental practitioners, particularly those practicing in rural areas.
 References | |  |
| 1. | Sivapathasundharam B. Editorial. Indian J Dent Res 2006;17:1.   |
| 2. | The gazette of India, New Delhi, Dental Council of India Notification, Dated 13 th September, 2007. |
Correspondence Address:
B Sivapathasundharam
Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Pathology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai - 600 095, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0970-9290.59427
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