Public healther: The true role of public health dentist

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Official Publication
INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY
ISSN 2319-5932
VOL. 14 | Issue 2 | Apr-Jun 2016
Journal of
Indian Association of
Public Health Dentistry
Journal of
Indian Association of
Public Health Dentistry
Journal of Indian Association Of Public Health Dentistry • Issue 3 • July-September 2015 • Pages 01-106 • Volume 13

241
© 2016 Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
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 scientic 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 curtailed
to that of case nding 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 deciencies 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 present
day curriculum as followed in some of the developed
nations 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 sufcient 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 assume
a leadership role in public health. At the end of this
training, the dental public health professional acquires
technical skills in a wide array of areas encompassing
planning, marketing, communications, human resource
management, nancial management, advocacy building,
management of information, evaluation, quality
assurance, and risk management. Hence, a complete
and more extensive program of this nature prepares the
public health dentist to be able to deliver his duties better
and to the fullest of his abilities.[1]
It is time to look beyond the concept of dental public health
and promote a new league of public health dentists whom
we would like to term as “public healthers” [Figure 1].
A public healther should be lobbying for health activities
to bring about changes in policies governing health
and to create evidence by research methods to validate
the lobbying. Emulating the above approach to public
health dentistry will bring about a promising change in
healthcare scenario in India and change the perception of
policymakers toward oral health. Integrating oral health
into strategies for promoting general health will in turn
permit health planners to work toward enhancing both
general and oral health.
We have over 928 public health dentists in the
country,[2] which reinforces the fact that we have all
the resources, in terms of manpower, human capital,
and technology for a better tomorrow. There is every
potential for improvement in oral health. The challenge
lies in channeling all the available resources in the
right direction to ensure healthy smiles for all. The
compartmentalization that has existed from time
immemorial in viewing oral health separate from general
health must cease to exist.
LETTER TO EDITOR
Public healther: The true role of public health dentist
Figure 1: The gure highlights the current scenario of public health dentistry
in India (gurative oor mopper), limitations of the curriculum and the
resultant lacuna of opportunities. Incorporating advocacy and policy‑making
skills enable to play the vital role of tap turners

Letter to Editor
242
Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry
Vol. 14, Issue 2, | April-June 2016
A curriculum as suggested here not only holds a
promising change for the country’s health statistics
but also holds tremendous potential for the public
health dentist. We believe that this change will
enable a public health dentist to be in capacity to
change the perception of health planners in the
country. 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 health
will facilitate these professional to take up positions
as epidemiologist, health managers, health specialists,
health economists, health educationists, health
promotion specialist, and many more. They may have
opportunities in international and nongovernmental
institutions as well.[3]
Seeing equity in health is every public health
professional’s motto. It is up to the fraternity and
the public health dentists, in particular, to see how
they 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.
Conicts of interest
There are no conicts of interest.
Janakiram Chandrashekar, Sanjeevan Vinita, Joseph Joe
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Amrita School of
Dentistry, Kochi, Kerala, India.
E‑mail: sekarcandra@gmail.com
REFERENCES
1. Dental Public Health | UCSF Dentistry. Available from: http://
www.dentistry.ucsf.edu/admissions/postgraduate‑programs/
dental‑public‑health. [Last cited on 2015 Sep 15].
2. Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry. Available from: http://
www.iaphd.org/about.php. [Last cited on 2015 Sep 16].
3. Goel S, Verma H. Scope of dentists in public health. Internet J Health
2008;9:1‑2.
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DOI:
10.4103/2319-5932.183810
How to cite this article: Chandrashekar J, Vinita S, Joe J. Public healther:
The true role of public health dentist. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent
2016;14:241-2.
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