New Delhi: Significant changes have been proposed in the structure of Bachelor of Dental Sciences. This includes making a year of internship mandatory for successfully completing the course. Besides, the duration of the course, including the internship period, would be five and half years. Even though some states like Kerala had already made internship mandatory, lots of other states still haven’t made it compulsory.

In the draft guidelines issued by the Dental Council, proposals have been made to switch to the credit and semester system instead of the current yearly system. Those who transfer to a different college or resume studies after taking a break will be able to transfer their credits until then.

Besides the mandatory core subjects and the foundation course, the syllabus would have electives too. Subjects like medical bio ethics would be included as a main subject. Meanwhile, sports dentistry, sleep medicine, forensic odontology, social justice, environmental science and yoga would be included as electives.

The draft proposals have been shared with the states and the national institutes too. The final decision would be taken after gathering instructions and opinions from them.

Meanwhile, the proposals would be introduced in the Parliament after seeking approval from the ministry of health. The authorities aim to introduce the new syllabus and system from next academic year onwards.