There is no shortage of dentists- Dr. Ali

Jan 19, 2016 News

Every year, the dental sector is being boosted with an addition of 10 dental surgeons which means that there is no shortage in the area of dentistry in the country.
This is according to the Director of the Cheddi Jagan Dental Center, Dr. Shameer Ali, during a recent interview.
The senior medical official explained that the country had a severe shortage of dentists, but this changed in 2006 when the school of dentistry opened at the Cheddi Jagan Dental Center and immediately started training persons in this field.
“We had less than 25 dentists in the entire country and in five years we were able to double that and in another 10 years we can double what we have now,” Dr. Ali said.
There are currently a total of 55 registered dentists in both Private and Public sector. “We take in students every year so every year a batch is graduating,” the Director pointed out.
At the school of dentistry, there are three training programmes running simultaneously. These include dental auxiliary, Dentex and Bachelor of Dental surgery (University of Guyana programme).
A Dental auxiliary is any of the dentists supporting team who helps with dental treatment. Among the auxiliary are dental assistants, dental therapists, dental hygienists and dental technicians.
These programmes are open to everyone and require different qualifications to enter. “Different levels required different qualification; a dental assistant would need to have at least three subjects including English.”
“For Dentex, you must have five subjects including Math and English and one science subject. The Dentex are trained to work on children and anyone below 18 years old. They go out to the schools and work at health centres,” Dr. Ali explained.
Dentex are trained to do extractions, examinations, fillings, cleaning and oral health education. These are people who work one level below a dental surgeon. Persons from the Amerindian communities are usually trained in this field and are then sent back to their hometown where they continue their practice in their respective villages.
“The UG programme runs parallel to the dental programme. The first two years are the foundation years where they do basic sciences, physiology and biochemistry. Both the medical and dental students go along in that programme together until they reach the third year. (From year three to year five) they are here in this building all the time. We have lectures, training here and practical.”
So far 27 students have graduated from the school of dentistry.

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There is no shortage of dentists- Dr. Ali

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