BDS - Simplified Success

BDS COURSE

Bachelor of Dental Surgery or BDS as it is commonly known is one of the medical courses sought out after MBBS. Students while aspiring for a medical career at the high school level and beyond look for information that tells them all about BDS. The course is 4 years in duration followed by one year of paid rotating internship. In India, BDS is regulated by the Dental Council of India where all dentists have to register to be able to practice after the completion of their study. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET UG) is the national level exam to apply for BDS admissions. A total of 26,620 seats are available as per the Dental Council of India records across 313 colleges inclusive of Govt, private colleges as well as central and deemed universities.

BDS Eligibility Criteria

Candidates have to fulfil the specified criteria in terms of nationality, age limit if any, qualifying exam, pass percentage and more. In addition they must also qualify NEET 2019. The eligibility criteria for BDS admissions as per NEET are given below.

Parameters

Eligibility Criteria

Nationality

Indian Nationals
Non Resident Indians (NRIs)
Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)
Persons of Indian Origin (PIO)
Foreign Nationals (for 15% quota All India Quota only). The norms for state admissions will be different.

Qualifying Exam

Candidates have to pass a recognised Higher/Senior Secondary Examination or the Indian School Certificate Examination equivalent to 10+2 Higher/Senior Secondary Examination after a period of 12 years study

NIOS candidates are eligible for now subject to the matter subjudice in the court.

Students from Foreign/International Boards are eligible if their qualify exam meets the equivalency determined by Association of Indian Universities (AIU) as per regulations of the Medical Council of India and the concerned University.

Subjects to be studied in qualifying exam

Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Biotechnology (including practical tests in these subjects)

AND

Mathematics or any other elective subject with English as prescribed by the NCERT.

Note: Candidates who have studied Biology/Biotechnology as and additional Subject can also apply subject to the judgement of the Supreme court where the matter is subjudice.

Required Pass Percentage in 10+2 or equivalent

Unreserved candidates and OCI, NRI, foreign candidates

Must have secured at least 50% in their qualifying exam in

Physics, Chemistry and Biology/ Bio-technology taken together.

Candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes (OBC)must have secured 40%

Mathematics or any other elective subject with English as prescribed by the NCERT.

Note: Candidates who have studied Biology/Biotechnology as and additional Subject can also apply subject to the judgement of the Supreme court where the matter is subjudice.

Age Limit

Candidates must have completed 17 years at the time of admission or before December 31 of the year of admission.

Candidates must be born on or after May 5,1994 for SC candidates, relaxation apply as per guidelines. Such candidates must be born on or after May 5, 1989.

The upper age limit criteria has been removed subject to the judgment pending in the Supreme Court.

NIOS candidates

Candidates who have passed 10+2 from Open School or as private candidates are eligible subject to the ruling of the court as the matter is subjudice.

Study of Biology/Biotechnology as an Additional Subject at 10+2 level

Candidates who have studied Biology/ Bio-technology as an additional subject after passing +2 level is eligible to appear in NEET (UG) – 2019 subject to the outcome of Special Leave Petitions/Appeals filed by the Medical Council of India.”

Percentile obtained in NEET UG - The percentile is determined on the basis of highest marks secured in the All-India common merit list in “National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to BDS course.

Candidates must have obtained a minimum of 50th percentile. For SC/ST/OBC candidates, the minimum marks shall be at 40th percentile. In respect of candidates with locomotory disability of lower amendments, the minimum marks shall be at 45th percentile.”

State Admissions

While the eligibility for NEET applies to all the BDS admissions, domicile and residency regulations in addition to other eligibility criteria will be applicable as per the regulations of the respective states. Admissions will be on the basis of the State Merit List announced by each state.

BDS Course Duration

As per the Dental Council of India, BDS course shall be of 4 (four) Academic years with 240 teaching days in each academic year, plus one year paid rotating Internship in a recognised dental college. All candidates will be required to undergo one year paid rotating internship after passing the final BDS examination. The internship is compulsory and BDS Degree shall be granted after completion of one year paid Internship and passing of BDS examination. All candidates pursuing their 5th year BDS Course must complete their theory in in 4 (four) subjects with 160 Lecture hours within a period of 6 (six) months as given below:

Subject

Lecture Hours

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics

Prosthodontics and Crown & Bridge

Public Health Dentistry

Total

160

After passing the examination, all candidates shall be allowed to do six months paid rotating internship programme in all the departments for the duration indicated against each department as given below:

Subject

Lecture Hours

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

20 days

Prosthodontics

30 days

Periodontics

15 days

Conservative Dentist

10 days

Pedodontics

15 days

Oral Pathology & Microbiology

10 days

Orthodontics

10 days

Community Dentist/Rural Service

30 days

Elective

10 days

Total

180 days

Note: Any student who does not clear the BDS Course in all the subjects within a period of 9 years, including one year mandatory rotatory paid internship from the date of admission shall be discharged from the course.

All About BDS - Fees

Fees will vary for the type of colleges – Government, Deemed Universities or private. While the Government colleges will have less fees for eg Patna Dental College has an annual fee structure of Rs 4000 if allotted under the All India Quota, deemed university fees start in the range of 3.5 lakhs and may go up to 6 lakhs and above. Fees for colleges under state management will be decided by the respective regulatory bodies. However for the management quota the fees are not available officially and are reportedly very high..

All about BDS - List of Colleges

A total of 313 colleges are registered in the records of the Dental Council of India which is the regulatory body for all BDS courses. However only 308 have been given permission to offer admissions while the remaining 5 colleges have been disallowed from admitting students for valid reasons. These 308 colleges offer around 26620 seats in all. 15% of the seats fall in the All India Quota the details of which are given in the table below. The counselling is centralised for these seats whole the rest of the seats are through the respective state regulatory bodies.

BDS Seats Through NEET Counselling (15%)

Types of colleges

Total Colleges

Total Seats

Government Colleges

339

Deemed Universities

3000

Central Universities

174

Total

101

3513

* As per the official NEET counselling website.

All about BDS - Careers after

A plethora of career choices are open for students after BDS. The most obvious choice would be to practise as a dentist. However that in itself has choices of where, for whom and as what.. An important point is that students must register with the Dental Council of India to be able to practise as a dentist. Some of the options are mentioned below:

Set up private practice: A common option followed by many dentists who have passed and registered themselves with the Dental Council of India. This will require some amount of funds and a good location. It also will take sometime before the dentists can establish themselves.
Consultant: In case setting up one’s own practice is not appealing, working as a consultant with established hospitals is another option. Here, one would be like an employee who is required to take on the patients who visit the hospital for their dental problems.
Teaching: Generally freshers are not taken in for teaching. The job requires experienced doctors who can answer queries and teach well. Mostly the doctors attached to the Govt hospitals also work as consulting professors to the students at the attached colleges. However teaching is an option for dentists who have an inclination for it albeit after gaining some experience working as a dentist.
Government Job: Most Govt hospitals, organizations, PSUs require doctors including dentists. So students can go in for these jobs for job security.
Options Abroad: To work abroad or practice as a dentist, one needs to check the regulations of the country and fulfil them to start work.
Further Study: Another option would be to go in for Masters in Dental Surgery. The specializations available allow dentist to choose the area in which they would like to mark their career. They have a choice of 9 specializations to choose from while pursuing their masters as given below.
1. Oral Medicine, Diagnosis, and Radiology
2. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
3. Oral Pathology and Microbiology
4. Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics
5. Orthodontics
6. Prosthodontics
7. Periodontal Surgery and Oral Implantology
8. Pedodontics
9. Public Health Dentistry

MDS is not just the only option that is open for students. Dentists can also pursue a management course like MHA (Masters in Hospital Administration) or MPH (Masters in Public Health). This will allow them to step into the management side of health organizations or hospital chains.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) - All About BDS

Is it necessary to clear NEET for BDS?

Yes, only NEET qualified candidates will be considered for admission to BDS course, apart from MBBS course. Please note that the qualifying percentile and marks will be different for different categories.

How many marks are required in NEET for BDS?

The cutoff marks depends on various factors like the category of the candidate, sanctioned seats, performance of candidates in the exam. Also, the cutoff varies from one year to another.

Is NEET necessary for BDS?

Admission to BDS seats in dental colleges will be on the basis of NEET scores. So yes, BDS aspirants have to mandatorily take and qualify NEET exam.