It was indeed a great pleasure to read the interesting articles on poverty and human development and access to oral health care in November JADA.1–5 I wish to highlight a few points on the situation in India.
India is one of the largest democracies in the world, with a population of one billion. India is a rapidly developing nation and is making great progress in the information and technology sector. But the sad fact is that few people have access to proper health care and to clean and safe drinking water. While developed countries think about water fluoridation, India must think about providing water that is safe and clean.
The inverse care law states that about 80 percent of the Indian population resides in the rural areas, most without health care access, while only 20 percent of India’s dentists serve the large population of rural residents. And 80 percent of dentists are serving in cities where only 20 percent of the population resides. This vast health care disparity has resulted in an unmet treatment need that is too great.
The Dental Council of India conducted a national epidemiologic survey, which found that the unmet treatment need was high in our rural population, and that most people had dental caries and periodontal disease at very early stages in their lives.6
Although India has nearly 250 dental schools, very few dentists opt to serve in the rural areas, as people cannot afford to pay the dentists for care. Dental public health is a branch that is given less importance compared with other specialties in India. The number of trained public health dentists is very low. Public health dentists should take up the work of providing health education and dental care for the needy in these rural areas.
I feel we should make it a point to function as one single community, streamline our workforce and work as health care providers without borders, to render oral health care to the poor and the needy. I am sure various associations in developed countries like the United States could at least consider developing some course of action to alleviate the burden of disease.
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