Lack of demand for dental courses in Karnataka: Nearly half of government seats vacant

Among the reasons cited for the lack of demand are increasing the number of dental colleges, high fees for the course and lack of lucrative job opportunities

Nearly half of all government quota dental seats allotted to Karnataka by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for the 2022-23 academic year, are vacant after the conclusion of NEET-2022 counselling, indicating the low demand for dental courses in the State. Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has now returned these seats to the respective colleges.

NTA had allotted 2,810 undergraduate (UG) and 941 postgraduate (PG) dental seats, totalling to 3,751 seats. Of them, only 1,425 UG seats and 716 PG seats have been taken by students leaving 1,385 UG seats and 225 PG seats totalling 1,610 seats — 43% — vacant.

Relatively, the vacancy rate among medical seats is far lower, at around 12.6%. A total of 1,419 medical seats (both UG and PG included) were vacant out of a total of 11,242 seats allotted in the government quota in Karnataka.

Dr. M.R. Jayaram, Vice Chairman for Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental College of Karnataka (COMEDK), blamed lack of regulation, and unscientific manner in which new dental colleges are allotted or number of seats in colleges increased for the current scenario.

“The government should carry out a survey on the demand for courses before giving permission for colleges,” he said.

The high fee for dental courses is also cited as a reason for lack of demand for the course said Dr. B.L. Sujatha Rathod, Director, Directorate of Medical Education. “A few colleges were prepared to cut the fee to encourage students. It is better if colleges agree and revise the fee structure,” she said. 

Dental students cite lack of lucrative job opportunities as one of the main reasons for the poor demand for the course. “Unlike graduates of other disciplines, there are no great job opportunities for dentists at superspeciality hospitals. The only way for us is to start our own practice, the setting up of which is costly,” said Sushanth, a third year dental student.