Dear Gowtham, In an attempt to address the acute shortfall of doctors in the country, Niti Aayog has proposed a Bridge Course between BDS and MBBS. The successful completion of the course would allow Dentists to practice family medicine. The move is based on the premise that the dental courses in the country follow the same training and curriculum as the MBBS courses for the first three years. The proposal looks at empowering the dentists in the country to cater to the ‘primary health care’.

The proposal:

• The DCI has proposed a post Bachelor of Dental Science (BDS) bridge course running for 3 years.
• admission would be either through a common entrance exam or through cumulative marks secured in the BDS course, or even a combination.
• the syllabus curriculum, scheme of examination, method of evaluation, degrees and registration all these criteria will be the same as recommended for MBBS.

Hope this helps