CHALLENGES FOR THE RURAL DENTAL CENTER (RDC) PROJECT for INDIA and THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:

PREFACE:Dental diseases are one of the most common of non-communicable diseases. Though they are rarely life threatening, they do impact the quality of life. Dental problems can cause severe pain, loss of man days &morbidity. Thus, they are an important public health concern. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), theprevalent oral diseases are dental caries, periodontal diseases & edentulousness.

WHO recommends, dentist to population ratio of 1:7500 but in reality in rural India 1 dentist is serving over a population of 2,50,000. About 80% of dentists work in major cities/towns across India. This is in contrast to the population where more than 70% of the Indians reside in the rural areas. What an Irony? According to the WHO, the provision of oral health care services are very little in rural parts of India.

The low reach and care of oral services in rural India are also because of the following factors:1. Geographical variations2. Uneven dentists: population ratio3. Poor specialist: Generalist ratio4. Poor dentist: auxiliary ratio5. Low priority given to oral health

Only 15 – 20% of people in India are able to get dental services through national schemes. 80-85% of people are spending money from their pocket. Due to this factor, Oral health care seeking behaviour is very low in India, especially among the rural villages. Although huge unmet treatment needs exists; striking inequality in delivery system, and absence of an adequatecommunity-oriented prevention system is further aggravating the lack of reach of dental facilities in rural parts of India. India in the last financial budget (2015-2016) spent just 4.2% of its GDP on Healthcare, of which Public Health spending was a mere a 1.2%. Suprisingly there is no specific separate allocation for Oral Healthcare. This lack of financing is reflected in the Oral Health Infrastructure of Government health centres. The most accessible and Principal healthcare provision facilities for Rural India, Primary Health Centres ( PHC ) do not provide Dental Services and only 20-25% of Community Health Centres, the point of secondary healthcare for rural villages within the Indian Healthcare System, provide Dental Care.

Dentistry faces serious problems regarding accessibility of its services to all in India especially among the rural areas. The major missing link is the absence of a primary health care approach.

Thus the RURAL DENTAL CENTER ( RDC ) Project becomes even more significant as it will be the first line of defence in the prevention and treatment of oral diseases amongst the people living in rural India and the developing countries.

CONTENTS:A. BLUEPRINT OF RURAL DENTAL CENTERB. CONCEPT REPORT OF THE RURAL DENTAL CENTERC. CHALLENGES OF ORAL CANCER IN INDIAD. DENTAL CENTER COSTS & DENTAL SERVICES TO

BE PROVIDED BY THE NGO.E. RUNNING OF THE OPERATIONAL COST OF THE

RURAL DENTAL CENTER p.m.F. MULTI – YEAR PLAN OF THE NGO.

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Compiled by : Dated: 25/02/2016

Dr. Amit Saini BDS