Department of Public Health Dentistry
Established in 1983, the Department of Public Health Dentistry at MCODS Manipal trains undergraduate and postgraduate students to work within interdisciplinary teams — investigating the risk factors for oral disease, their links to systemic disease, and the use of oral epidemiological methods to study the health outcomes of dental services and oral health policy. The subject also helps students explore professional ethics in relation to peers, patients, and the community. Through dental camps, screening examinations, and an extensive outreach programme, students are sensitised to the specific needs of diverse patient populations, making the department widely regarded as one of the best places for a postgraduation in Public Health Dentistry.
Highlights
- An extensive outreach programme covering more than 20,000 patients annually, delivering dental care to surrounding communities.
- A newly designed Mobile Dental Clinic with two dental chairs, a spacious waiting area, television, and Wi-Fi — purpose-built to travel narrow rural roads and screen under-served communities.
- A Tobacco Cessation Centre run with the Departments of Oral Medicine & Radiology and Respiratory Medicine, offering tobacco and dietary counselling, equipped with a carbon monoxide breath analyser and virtual counselling facilities.
- An urban dental health centre for clinical training, alongside multidisciplinary research activities and international collaborations.
- Core competencies in epidemiological research, clinical training, and oral health promotion.
- Strong community partnerships with humanitarian organisations including Rotary, Lions, Junior Chambers, and the Giants Group, and a legacy of hosting the National Conference of the Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry (2015) and organising CPD programmes for the dental fraternity.
Services
Offered
Community Outreach & Dental Camps
An extensive outreach programme delivering screening and dental care to surrounding rural and urban communities, reaching over 20,000 patients annually.
