The scope of dental public health in India versus other developing and developed countries

Abstract

India is a developing country, the second-most populated country in the world. Public dental health is a specialty branch of dentistry, the scope of which in India and other developing and developed countries is compared. In the early 1920s, the developing nations showed less caries, which increased at the end of 20th century. In developed nations, caries prevalence was more at the start of 20th century but reduced at the end of 20th century. This was owing to fluoride use and proper preventive measures. In India, nearly 70% of the population is rural based. Making it accessible for oral health care is the basic need. The scope of public dental health will be primarily prevention based. The aim of this review is to the scope of dental public health (DPH) in India versus other developing and developed countries. Our review concludes that the scope of DPH in India has definitely a wide range. Other developing countries too have to broaden their scope in DPH to cater to huge population. The scope of DPH in developed nations also does not become less as the underprivileged show high prevalence of caries.