u/Horror_Violinist206

It would be wrong to say I joined Dentistry willingly, I was unwilling but on insistance of our then neighbour who was a Dentist, my parents made me fill up fresh choices for the counselling round and this time I had BDS colleges at the end but luck struck and I got one of the colleges since. Let me clarify, it was a private college and a management seat which means quite literally my parents gifted me this expensive degree with their hard earned money. Now, I know that most people would have similar stories about how they came to dentistry and out of that a significant portion has spent lakhs either for their UG or PG because we have disproportionately more private colleges than government ones. Fellowships, Diplomas and any other degree to their name costs a few more lakhs. Again, after education dentist open their own clinics or take exams to move abroad which is also needs a significant amount of money to be invested.

This means that a significant number of dentists come from well to do background, maybe not lavishly good but well enough to be able to cough up some 20-30lakhs on setting up their career either from savings or through loans. But somehow, the setback we get at the age of 17-18 shapes how we see ourselves. We don't acknowledge the privellage we come from but rather shrink ourselves to fit in and this is where exploitation starts.

The college where our parents are literally paying lakhs treats us like shit, pays us peanuts /not pay at all in internship and PG as our rightful stipend and we accept it. We accept being treated as 2nd class in the medical fraternity, we accept humiliation and exploitation when working in a setup that's not ours. We accept that our exams are not even considered enough important- our exams, it's results, the counselling- everything get delayed or postponed and no one bats and eye. No one cares how our exams are just blind tunnels- we go in and write the exam and simply accept whatever scores are printed against our roll no, we don't question the system, the scoring or the non-disclosure. On the other hand, every other person wants to mint money off this insecurity and make vulnerable ones pays in the name of "guides". Even our council is slow. NDC act came in 2023 and in 2026 the body was finally formed dissolving the previous DCI keeping things in a limbo for 3 whole years. Compare it to our MBBS counterpart where the act came in 2019 and the body was constituted in a year by 2020. We don't have any association at the national level unlike in medical where those associations not only exist but hold enough ground to officially make statements and stand for each and every doctor who is wronged either by the system or by public. Imagine such a level of chaos in medical field. You cannot because they wouldn't stand such bs. One thing goes wrong and every bit of strength is spent on raising the concern at a national level and holding people accountable. But that's not us. We aren't happy and satisfied being Dentists. We are busy justifying to the world that we are equally "doctors" because we have the same subjects but neither we ourselves believe that we deserve that respect nor we have the spine like one to demand it.

I know nothing will change and honestly I have lost hope as well. Everyone will read this post and forget it. This will get burried amidst the hundreds of posts asking how xyz college is. Mind you, most are private or deemed seats so people are still ready to spend money. It's not that we are caught in this vicious cycle because we lack the resources to voice our concerns but because we believe this is all we deserve because we have shrunk our self respect just to be part of the medical fraternity. Compared to any other field, Dentistry needs more investment but has a poor ROI so this silence was never about anything else other than just seeing ourselves as enough.

Edit: Just realised that the NEET PG pattern is being re-evaluated from 200 questions in 3hr to 180 questions in 3hr (1 min/Q) but ig NEET MDS doesn't deserve the same attention (and neither do we) because we are doing 240 questions in 3hr (45 sec/Q) with undisclosed amount of 'extra' marks due to technically incorrect questions to all exam takers irrespective of whether they have attempted those questions or not. If any national level exam would have had this, it would be all over everywhere and the exam conducting body would be under pressure to clarify but not here because we accept being treated as a 2nd class citizen all because we lack what it needs to be proud of ourselves and hold our ground even when many have the opportunity and the resources to.

It would be wrong to say I joined Dentistry willingly, I was unwilling but on insistance of our then neighbour who was a Dentist, my parents made me fill up fresh choices for the counselling round and this time I had BDS colleges at the end but luck struck and I got one of the colleges since. Let me clarify, it was a private college and a management seat which means quite literally my parents gifted me this expensive degree with their hard earned money. Now, I know that most people would have similar stories about how they came to dentistry and out of that a significant portion has spent lakhs either for their UG or PG because we have disproportionately more private colleges than government ones. Fellowships, Diplomas and any other degree to their name costs a few more lakhs. Again, after education dentist open their own clinics or take exams to move abroad which is also needs a significant amount of money to be invested.

This means that a significant number of dentists come from well to do background, maybe not lavishly good but well enough to be able to cough up some 20-30lakhs on setting up their career either from savings or through loans. But somehow, the setback we get at the age of 17-18 shapes how we see ourselves. We don't acknowledge the privellage we come from but rather shrink ourselves to fit in and this is where exploitation starts.

The college where our parents are literally paying lakhs treats us like shit, pays us peanuts /not pay at all in internship and PG as our rightful stipend and we accept it. We accept being treated as 2nd class in the medical fraternity, we accept humiliation and exploitation when working in a setup that's not ours. We accept that our exams are not even considered enough important- our exams, it's results, the counselling- everything get delayed or postponed and no one bats and eye. No one cares how our exams are just blind tunnels- we go in and write the exam and simply accept whatever scores are printed against our roll no, we don't question the system, the scoring or the non-disclosure. On the other hand, every other person wants to mint money off this insecurity and make vulnerable ones pays in the name of "guides". Even our council is slow. NDC act came in 2023 and in 2026 the body was finally formed dissolving the previous DCI keeping things in a limbo for 3 whole years. Compare it to our MBBS counterpart where the act came in 2019 and the body was constituted in a year by 2020. We don't have any association at the national level unlike in medical where those associations not only exist but hold enough ground to officially make statements and stand for each and every doctor who is wronged either by the system or by public. Imagine such a level of chaos in medical field. You cannot because they wouldn't stand such bs. One thing goes wrong and every bit of strength is spent on raising the concern at a national level and holding people accountable. But that's not us. We aren't happy and satisfied being Dentists. We are busy justifying to the world that we are equally "doctors" because we have the same subjects but neither we ourselves believe that we deserve that respect nor we have the spine like one to demand it.

I know nothing will change and honestly I have lost hope as well. Everyone will read this post and forget it. This will get burried amidst the hundreds of posts asking how xyz college is. Mind you, most are private or deemed seats so people are still ready to spend money. It's not that we are caught in this vicious cycle because we lack the resources to voice our concerns but because we believe this is all we deserve because we have shrunk our self respect just to be part of the medical fraternity. Compared to any other field, Dentistry needs more investment but has a poor ROI so this silence was never about anything else other than just seeing ourselves as enough.

Edit: Just realised that the NEET PG pattern is being re-evaluated from 200 questions in 3hr to 180 questions in 3hr (1 min/Q) but ig NEET MDS doesn't deserve the same attention (and neither do we) because we are doing 240 questions in 3hr (45 sec/Q) with undisclosed amount of 'extra' marks due to technically incorrect questions to all exam takers irrespective of whether they have attempted those questions or not. If any national level exam would have had this, it would be all over everywhere and the exam conducting body would be under pressure to clarify but not here because we accept being treated as a 2nd class citizen all because we lack what it needs to be proud of ourselves and hold our ground even when many have the opportunity and the resources to.

It would be wrong to say I joined Dentistry willingly, I was unwilling but on insistance of our then neighbour who was a Dentist, my parents made me fill up fresh choices for the counselling round and this time I had BDS colleges at the end but luck struck and I got one of the colleges since. Let me clarify, it was a private college and a management seat which means quite literally my parents gifted me this expensive degree with their hard earned money. Now, I know that most people would have similar stories about how they came to dentistry and out of that a significant portion has spent lakhs either for their UG or PG because we have disproportionately more private colleges than government ones. Fellowships, Diplomas and any other degree to their name costs a few more lakhs. Again, after education dentist open their own clinics or take exams to move abroad which is also needs a significant amount of money to be invested.

This means that a significant number of dentists come from well to do background, maybe not lavishly good but well enough to be able to cough up some 20-30lakhs on setting up their career either from savings or through loans. But somehow, the setback we get at the age of 17-18 shapes how we see ourselves. We don't acknowledge the privellage we come from but rather shrink ourselves to fit in and this is where exploitation starts.

The college where our parents are literally paying lakhs treats us like shit, pays us peanuts /not pay at all in internship and PG as our rightful stipend and we accept it. We accept being treated as 2nd class in the medical fraternity, we accept humiliation and exploitation when working in a setup that's not ours. We accept that our exams are not even considered enough important- our exams, it's results, the counselling- everything get delayed or postponed and no one bats and eye. No one cares how our exams are just blind tunnels- we go in and write the exam and simply accept whatever scores are printed against our roll no, we don't question the system, the scoring or the non-disclosure. On the other hand, every other person wants to mint money off this insecurity and make vulnerable ones pays in the name of "guides". Even our council is slow. NDC act came in 2023 and in 2026 the body was finally formed dissolving the previous DCI keeping things in a limbo for 3 whole years. Compare it to our MBBS counterpart where the act came in 2019 and the body was constituted in a year by 2020. We don't have any association at the national level unlike in medical where those associations not only exist but hold enough ground to officially make statements and stand for each and every doctor who is wronged either by the system or by public. Imagine such a level of chaos in medical field. You cannot because they wouldn't stand such bs. One thing goes wrong and every bit of strength is spent on raising the concern at a national level and holding people accountable. But that's not us. We aren't happy and satisfied being Dentists. We are busy justifying to the world that we are equally "doctors" because we have the same subjects but neither we ourselves believe that we deserve that respect nor we have the spine like one to demand it.

I know nothing will change and honestly I have lost hope as well. Everyone will read this post and forget it. This will get burried amidst the hundreds of posts asking how xyz college is. Mind you, most are private or deemed seats so people are still ready to spend money. It's not that we are caught in this vicious cycle because we lack the resources to voice our concerns but because we believe this is all we deserve because we have shrunk our self respect just to be part of the medical fraternity. Compared to any other field, Dentistry needs more investment but has a poor ROI so this silence was never about anything else other than just seeing ourselves as enough.

Edit: Just realised that the NEET PG pattern is being re-evaluated from 200 questions in 3hr to 180 questions in 3hr (1 min/Q) but ig NEET MDS doesn't deserve the same attention (and neither do we) because we are doing 240 questions in 3hr (45 sec/Q) with undisclosed amount of 'extra' marks due to technically incorrect questions to all exam takers irrespective of whether they have attempted those questions or not. If any national level exam would have had this, it would be all over everywhere and the exam conducting body would be under pressure to clarify but not here because we accept being treated as a 2nd class citizen all because we lack what it needs to be proud of ourselves and hold our ground even when many have the opportunity and the resources to.