THE JOURNEY OF DENTISTRY IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

The history of dentistry in Pakistan started before the country’s independence. As Fatima Jinnah Māder-e Millat (“Mother of the Nation”) was the first dentist of Pakistan. Pakistan’s premier and oldest dental institutions include Khyber College of Dentistry Peshawar and De ‘Montmorency College of Dentistry Lahore. Both institutions have a very rich heritage of academic and clinical excellence in the field of Dentistry. Both these institutions produced excellent Dental surgeons, who later became the leaders in the rest of the country Dental institutions. Up to the late nineties, few public sectors were established in Punjab,
Sindh and Baluchistan.
In Pakistan, 21st-century horizon heralded changes and new developments in every profession especially in the field of Medicine and dentistry. Private sector started investment in the Medical & Dental education. At the moment there are fifty Dental Colleges in the country, out of which Fifteen and Thirty-Five are in the Public and private sector respectively. Most of the dental colleges were established in both public and Private sector in a rush, without any proper prior planning. Private investors were not aware of the required Faculty and other technical facilities which are the backbone of Dental education. Which ultimately comprised the quality of dental education, which in turn produced incompetent Dental surgeons?
In the first few years of the establishment of the Dental Colleges like Khyber College of Dentistry had few postgraduate faculty members who produced postgraduate dental professionals in one or two fields of Dentistry. Today KCD is the leader of the dental institutes in the country having Postgraduate courses in all the Basic and Clinical subjects of the dentistry.
Khyber College of Dentistry in the last few years achieved tremendous milestones in both the academic and clinical fields of Dentistry. In the academics KCD got the approval of MPhil Courses in the basic Dental Sciences of Oral Pathology, Oral Biology, Preventive and community dentistry and Science of Dental Materials. Departments of Operative dentistry, as well as Periodontology, were recognised by the College of Physician & surgeons for the FCPS training in both the specialities.
Keeping in view the importance of allied dental personals in the field of Dentistry, KCD got the approval of BS Dental Technology degree and Dental surgery assistant’s diploma from the KMU and Medical Faculty of KP respectively to produce qualified allied dental staff.