PRIVATIZATION IN DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS - THE INDIAN SCENARIO

Privatization is the transfer of ownership, property or business from the government to the private sector. It is considered to bring more efficiency and objectivity to the company, something that a government company may not be concerned about. The field of oral health care has been one among the most potential areas of implementation of this concept of 'privatization', the reasons being the rigidity of public institutions and their inability to change or adapt to different stimuli from the environment, including populations' and patients' expectations. The frequent opinion that all private structures per se function more efficiently and more productively is nothing but a statement; this applies well to many private dental health care setups with regards to comprehensive health care of each patient and oral health education. Problems such as imbalanced specialist training, and inequity of access to dental care because of dentists being more concentrated in cities and towns is the current Indian scenario.