50 YEARS ON AND GOING STRONGER THAN EVER…

Abstract

I write this editorial with a special reverence for the history of a date that has a special place in our hearts as far as our profession is concerned. It is perhaps a little known fact that on 19th August 2014, Khyber College of Dentistry will become only the second dental institute in Pakistan to complete 50 years of its existence. The brainchild of Dr. Hassan Raza Shah, Principal of de,Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore, General Mohammad Akram, the then Principal of Khyber Medical College and Mr. Mohammad Ali, the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Peshawar, will complete its Golden Jubilee.

Originally inaugurated as a Department of Dentistry in 1964 under the chairman ship of Professor Ahmad Iqbal with an intake of 14 students, this mother institute of dentistry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saw gradual additions of departments of Prosthodontics, Operative dentistry and Dental surgery by 1978, Orthodontics and radiology in 1979, Maxillofacial Surgery in 1987, Periodontology in 1989, Paedodontics in 1993, Oral medicine in 1994, Dental materials in 1995, Oral biology in 2006, Community Dentistry 2007 and finally Oral Pathology in 2013.

Presently, Khyber College of Dentistry enrolls 77 aspiring dentists annually and provides basic and advanced dental care to over 300-350 patients on a daily basis. In addition to its undergraduate program, the college also provides Fellowship Training in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthodontics and Prosthodontics according to the requirements of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan. The college has also started Diploma programs in Periodontology, Paedodontics and Operative Dentistry under the auspices of Khyber Medical University which will soon be supplemented by MDS programs in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthodontics and Prosthodontics in the near future.

The infrastructure of this prime institution has continuously evolved and expanded to cover the ever expanding scope of dentistry and its training requirements. In 2010, a dedicated 5 stories block of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery was inaugurated and the old Prosthodontics Block has been demolished to make way for two 5 stories buildings that will keep Khyber College of Dentistry at the forefront of dental education not only in KPK but also in Pakistan and the wider world.

Khyber College of Dentistry has been synonymous with the word trendsetter since its inception. It holds the distinction of being the only dental college in the country that publishes its own dental journal, a copy of which you hold in your hands while you read this editorial. This volume has been regularly published, biannually since 2010 and has provided a platform through which students, practioner’s and faculty have kicked off a research trend that will one day materialize in providing local data and statistics for the practice of evidence based dentistry in Pakistan. In this regard, we aim to emulate the journey of Khyber College of Dentistry by evolving continuously and taking giant strides towards making JKCD a citadel of research par excellence.