Which MDS Branch To Choose After BDS in India?

There are a number of problems with the education system as it exists in India and those have already been well documented numerous times. We are specifically talking about the one question that every BDS graduate faces after completing his course. “Which MDS specialty to choose after BDS in India?”

It is not an easy question to answer and at the same time is one that carries a lot of weight. The MDS specialty you choose has to be something that you enjoy doing and one that helps you build a career in dentistry down the line. A lot of the time, in fact, people can choose only based on the latter and not worry about what they enjoy doing.

Here are some things that you should take into account before deciding which MDS specialty is the best for you.

Wait Till You Finish Internship

The one year of rotating internship that all BDS graduates must go through after finishing their final year is probably the most important one in their careers. It is during this year that they will get a chance to work in all the different departments of dentistry and really be able to concentrate on clinical work without the stress of any exams.

Look to learn as much as you can during this period because all of these clinical skills will be used directly in real life. Some students can take this time a little easy and relax either because they have no exams to worry about or because they think they will learn the clinical skill during their MDS.

This will harm the students in the long run and affect their all round development of clinical skills. Also, make the decision to pursue a particular specialty only after really having an idea of what is involved in all of them. Never worry about it having gotten too late to decide by the end of internship or that other people seem to know already.

Clinical MDS Specialty or Non-Clinical MDS Specialty?

Now coming to the specific career aspects of choosing an MDS specialty after BDS, the first thing that students need to decide is whether they want to pursue a career as a clinician or in one of the non-clinical teaching subjects.

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Seeing patients every day and making treatment decisions is not everyone’s cup of tea. A lot of people prefer the less intense setting in a non–clinical job that opens more traditional job opportunities to them.

The advantages and disadvantages of choosing both should be weighed by the individual candidate taking into account their personal situation. Choosing a clinical branch in India means that you are going to have to invest a significant sum of money into setting up a clinic since joining large practices or hospitals is still limited to a small subset of people.

The time that you spend working in someone else’s clinic or at a hospital will not be as financially rewarding as working in your own clinic. Some pan India chains of dental clinics have started to emerge which offer good opportunities to fresh pass-outs in clinical branches and are always looking for good quality dentists to join them.

Best MDS Branch For India

Which Clinical MDS Specialty is the Best After BDS In India?

Some of the specialists which seem most in demand, as per my own personal experience of having worked in New Delhi, are Orthodontists, Oral Surgeons, and Endodontists. Specialists in these three fields will never have trouble finding a good job or getting attached to multiple clinics since they cover a large part of the treatment offered.

Some other clinical branches that are in demand are Periodontology because of its focus on Implantology and Pedodontics because more and more parents prefer to take their children to a specialist child dentist.

This is not to say that a successful career cannot be made out of other specialties. The ones mentioned above just seem to be the one that allows dentists to kickstart their careers a little bit easier than others.

Implantology After BDS in India?

There is no way around making a career in Dentistry without offering Implants in your practice and therefore Implantology is an excellent field to look at after completing BDS. The only thing is that Implantology by itself is not an MDS specialty in India. Unlike numerous places abroad where people can do an MS in Implantology, students in India still have to learn about Implants as a part of some other specialty.

Periodontology, Oral Surgery, and Prosthodontics are all fields that are integral to Implantology and so graduates from all of these three branches have a nice base on which to build their career in implantology.

MDS in Non-Clinical Fields After BDS In India

There was a point during which almost no one considered a career in non-clinical subjects like Oral Pathology and Radiology or Community Dentistry. However, as dental colleges mushroomed across the country, it became apparent that there were much fewer graduates in this field than any other and so the rise in their careers to Professors or Head of Departments was much quicker.

This lead to a few years where non-clinical subjects became very popular among BDS graduates that wanted to make their career in teaching.

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Now, unfortunately, it would seem that the ‘boom’ has passed and the sheer number of graduates from different MDS programs are much more than teaching jobs available. In my opinion, students should only choose Non-clinical lines if they are really interested in them and not just because there is less competition.

Conclusion

It is unfortunate that the value of the BDS degree has become devalued by sub-par colleges mushrooming across the country and the sheer number of graduates has made it essential to get an MDS degree afterward. However, that being said, I am a firm believer that quality always stands out and so choose an MDS branch that you realy want to excel in.

That will make all the difference in you being just another dentist with a specialists degree and a doctor that your colleagues and other patients really trust.