Does dental college infrastructure really matter?

How does the infrastructure really matter?

Good infrastructure means good availability of all dental services.

Usually deemed universities have the best infrastructure, that means the deemed university usually has all the latest and modern equipments and instruments required for all the advanced dental procedures.

(I have even written a post on 8 tips to choose your dental college..Be sure to read that as well)

So if you are planning your post graduation what you should be looking for?

Clinical branches like endodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics, pedodontics and oral surgery are more concerned with latest instruments and facilities.

Let us see what all equipments; a college with good infrastructure will have. Apart from all the traditional stuff you would get a lot more.

1. Lasers: Lasers is now a days preferred mode of treatment for a variety of procedures. May it be a simple overgrowth of tissue, to implant dentistry to complex surgical procedures, laser dentistry is a boon. So if you are pursuing post graduation or planning to pursue post graduation in a clinical branch, do inquire whether you get to use lasers or not. 

I have seen in many colleges, despite the availability of lasers, students don't care to use lasers. In near future, laser will replace a lot of traditional instruments and techniques which were used before.

2. Microscopes: Many colleges are now providing the facility of microscopes, microscopes are used in oral pathology, and also in endodontics for root canal treatment.

Microscopes work on the principle of magnifications, and allow you to get a better visualization of the area you are going to treat, thus reducing the chances of failure of the treatment.

If your college doesn't provide the facility of microscopes and if you are pursuing postgraduation in endodontics or prosthodontics, you can prefer to use surgical loupes.

(I have posted a separate post on surgical dental loupes, an exhaustive guide on how to choose your dental loupes)

3. Digital Impressions: Now a days very few dental colleges (deemed universities) in India, have started procuring intra oral scanners, for making the impressions.

I know in a lot of government dental college they use same impression compound in mouth of 10 different patients, there's no hygiene and no sterilization. Not to name here, and many will ask you to get your own impression materials.

Using digital impressions, you can accurately record intraoral hard and soft tissues and fabricate prosthesis and restorations in no time.

No doubt for digital impressions to come to India in every other clinic, it will take atleast a decade or two but awareness is rising among dentist. So if your college is offering you this, atleast try to use it for a few cases. 

The only problem is the intraoral scanners are quite expensive and you'll need CAD CAM based softwares and machinery to fabricate your restorations precisely.

There are very few labs in India, who got these equipments to process digital impressions and fabricate restorations.

(In my another post i have talked about good labs in India you can send your work to)

If your college doesn't have this facility, it is alright. But make sure, your college has elastomeric impression materials readily available for you to use. Many colleges still use alginates for impressions.

No doubt, if you are in your private practice where patient doesn't pay you enough money for their crown and bridge work, using elastomeric impression materials may not be possible.

Atleast you should know, how to manipulate elastomeric impression materials.

4. T-scan: T-scan can help you diagnose occlusal discrepancy and if patient is suffering from TMD's (Temporo mandibular disorders) T scan will help you with those.

5. Cordless Gingival Retraction: If you are into aesthetic dentistry, and you have planned a FPD (Fixed Partial Denture) to replace missing upper anterior teeth, or you want to do smile designing of irregular upper anterior teeth, you need to do gingival retraction for proper aesthetic outcome.

Traditionally people use gingival retraction cords. Now that's pretty outdated, and also it can be a little time consuming. Newer cordless gingival retraction system, a few colleges allow you to use.

Not only saves time and is also pretty fast. But its a little expensive compared to traditional gingival retraction cords.

But if a patient has come for aesthetic treatment, it is worth it. Because you'll be charging way more money for an aesthetic treatment.

6. CBCT: CBCT is an excellent boon for diagnosis and treatment planning for implant dentistry, It has a lot of other wide advantages in endodontics, and other stuff.

CBCT is still not there in a lot of colleges, and if you plan to join a college, please do inquire if CBCT is available or not.

7. OT: If you are planning to join oral surgery, it's a branch which needs hospital attached next to it. Now in a lot of dental colleges, there's no medical college attached along witha dental college, so you would just do extractions, impactions, minor surgical procedures, you wont get exposure to major surgical procedures.

Taking oral surgery in such a college, is a waste of time, money and efforts.

So if you are planning to choose your next dental college, ask about all these things depending upon the branch you are going to choose.