Does Dental School Cost Too Much?

[drsnehamaheshwari]

 

And that’s not all: In the study of prosthodontics there’s no stone or modelling wax available, which the students have to buy for Rs 200 as also students have to buy artificial jaws which cost around Rs 7,000 and artificial teeth which cost around Rs 5,000.

In periodontics department, the students have to buy fluoride application trays each of which costs Rs 50 and the curriculum quota demands ten fluoride applications, which would cost each student another Rs 500.

The situation has made each third year and final year student shell out nearly Rs 7,000 so far at the rate of an average Rs 150 per patient depending on the kind of dental restoration that is required; making studying dentistry an expensive proposition for the students unfortunate enough to be studying at a time when the government is seemingly in no hurry to procure the material.

The Dean of the Goa Medical College, Dr Ida de Ataide Noronha said that this is a temporary phase and should pass off once the government completes the tender process.

“This year the government has decided to go in for e-tendering. The process is delayed. As and when the clearance comes we will have the stocks,” she said.

Sources in the GDC have told Herald that the amalgam, which is an alloy of mercury with another metal, used for dental fillings called silver restorations, has been unavailable for more than six months now.

After the amalgam, which is used for the permanent silver restorations ran out, the students began using the GIC, which is used as a temporary filling and began calling patients back at a later date to complete the filling with the amalgam, hoping that on the later date, the amalgam would be made available. Now the students have to buy both the amalgam and the GIC for their patients.

However, it was not to be and soon the GIC too ran out leaving students with no option but to buy their own amalgam so that they complete the required number of amalgam restorations as is required by their syllabus.

Each student has to do around 50 small restorations or 30 big restorations and 30 GIC restorations to complete their quota of restorations as part of the course curriculum.

Each tiny bottle of amalgam costs around Rs 1800 and lasts for maximum 20 patients depending on how big the restoration is for each patient.

Herald has learnt that in a bid to offset costs, three students who are posted in the GDC clinics together per session combine costs to buy two bottles of amalgam. With each bottle costing Rs 1800, the student ends up spending Rs 600 per posting in the clinic or Rs 150 per patient given that they drill an average of three to four patients per session.

All these material are supposed to be procured by the government that offers dental restorations at the Goa Dental College free of cost for the State’s populace.

“It is proving to be too expensive for all of us,” a student told Herald on the condition of anonymity.

There are around 30-35 students in the third and fourth year of GDC. 

While the students say they have been specifically told they would not be reimbursed for the amount they spent, the Dean of the College insists that if the students submit bills they will be reimbursed.

“Yes, they will be reimbursed. All they have to do is submit bills of their purchases and they will be reimbursed,” Dr Ataide Noronha told Herald.

For now the inexplicable delay in issuing the tender to buy the material is bleeding the pockets of the students and their parents by the day.

A third year and final year student shells out nearly Rs 7,000 at the rate of an average Rs 150 per patient

A tiny bottle of amalgam costs around Rs 1,800 and lasts for maximum 20 patients.