BDS

Very good question, at the right time. I only wanted to write about the options available for Dentists in all perspectives, without making the BDS education go waste. There are options to shift your field entirely too. - If you want to continue clinical side, you can do MS or continue with BDS. If you do MS in non-clinicals (O. Path, Ph.D. you can go for research pertainting to Dentistry too. You have many fellowship courses also available (only to gain skills and clinical experience, but they are not DCI recognised). You have fellowships in forensic odontology too (practically of no use in India). You can try for posts in Dental colleges, PHC's. Now, if you want to explore other options outside Dentistry, you can try in the:
-insurance sector. -Pharmaceuticals sector. -Health care management
-MPH
-clinical research and trials
-marketing
-research.

Well, you can do anything buddy. Let me get straight to the point. Private practice - being a dentist u should be aware of this ( if you are ). You can setup your clinic in your place or any place in India after getting registered with DCI. Job (Medical Officer) - you can apply to the government. Posts via public service commission examination of state and centre. Or you can take a Private job in any hospital or clinic. (Provided there should be vacancy). Higher studies - After BDS you can go for PG course MS MPH Maharashtra or MBA etc. As well as there are plenty of Diploma courses. Job - (Banking, Administration or others) - Bieng a BDS you will be graduate by law and can apply to any government or private job where being graduate is a essential condition. (Provided Essential degree is not specified. Business - starting a business does not have any eligibility condition so you can start any business. There are several other options like politician, Writer, etc. (just kidding) but you can consider them. Thanks.

Speaking frankly, BDS is a degree equal to MBBS because MBBS deals with the whole body and BDS deals with the head and neck, a BDS becomes a surgeon after completing his /her BDS degree but an MBBS cannot. An MS doctor is nothing less than an MD. People sometimes compare BDS with B.A. MS BPT is homeopathic, but the fact is there is a big differences between them. Now coming to your question, yes that fact in India people doesn't know how to show respect to a doctor they treat them as Labour or something
Bds has a greater scope in foreign countries with huge amount of income but Indian market value is little less but if you good with your hands then no one can stop you. BDS has different branches like
Pedodontics, Periodontics, endo, ortho, oral maxiofacial surgeon, oral pathology, prosthodontics, public health and dentistry you can easily do MS in any of them, yes NEET MS exam you will have to crack or AIIMS also provide MS degrees.
Hope it helps.

I'd say great question! I really wish people read more about career prospects post BDS because I see so many young pass outs struggling to find their place. So there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind before you actually decide what you wanna do further. Your interest:- this is primarily the most important of all the things that will be listed here. Ask yourself- why did I choose to do BDS in the first place? Is it something I like? Would I want to treat patients all my life? If the answer to any two of these three questions is a yes, you're clearly inclined towards this field. Having said that, you also must know the current situation of dentists in India. There is TOUGH COMPETITION. But then again, if this is your passion, go for an MS Yes it will take some time to set up your own clinic and it requires a decent investment as well but if you love what you do, money, success, fame, everything will follow. But remember, you are going to have to deal with difficult situations and times when you'll feel you made the wrong choice. You must never give up anyway. Your place of residence/which city would you want to set up your clinic in:- This is one of the most important factors which will come into play if you decide to do your MS According to recent statistical data, all the urban cities of our country are over saturated with dentists. However, certain small towns and rural sectors are brimming with opportunity for those who are willing to grab it. If you do plan to set up a clinic in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad or any other major city, you're going to have a real tough time. But if you look at some small towns, opportunities there are galore. Your financial needs:- Now this is one aspect where the two differ by a huge margin. Although the amount of money one has to spend on doing an MS or an MBA is pretty much the same, the returns are much faster after an MBA. Let's look ATIT this way- it takes 3 years to complete your MS let's say you get into a great government college where you're paid a stipend each month and the fees of the course is almost negligible. 3 years later, you pass out with approximately 7 Lacs in your bank account (considering the stipend you receive every month minus the expenses- government dental colleges pay their MS students around 20k a month). Now you decide to set up a clinic in one of the small towns. That would need approximately INR 13 Lakhs to INR 15 Lakhs.

After BDS!
MS! A big NO. Reason -amount of money you spend is very difficult to recover
MS is good only if you get a government seat or in AIIMS where your expenditure is negligible
Now, if you wanna be in India!
Then do courses like. Esthetic
Implant
Rotary endo
Depending on your field of interest. Doing such courses will help you learn advance dentistry, which is more practical and updated in nature. By the time your batchmates clears MS. In 3 years you will be multi specialist. And having your own clinic that time will bring more confidence. (In a room of 100 patients. MS will find 1030 patients but
Multi specialist - 6080 patients. )
Short term pain- long term gain
Till then you can work in a trust clinic and implement what you learned in these courses. Second best option would be. Move away! India is not the right place for young dentists. Incase any more information required
Thanks.

This answer is strictly not for financially well backed up students. This is for people who don't want to fall into debt trap
Let me put this into three scenarios and let you know whether BDS is a good career option or not.
BDS as a career option would be considered only if you did not get MBBS seat
Scenario 1:
Just in case I am considering if you have cleared NEET and missed MBBS cutoff and your opting for BDS in a private college
Solution:
I would ask you to invest another year in preparing for NEET. Scenario 2:
If you have cleared NEET and missed MBBS seat but you have a government BDS seat and your not ready to invest another year in preparing for NEET
Solution:
I would ask you to choose BDS because you have less fee to pay and get a stipend in internship as well (WIN-WIN)
Scenario 3:
There is also another category where people would prefer BDS because their parents are also in the same field
Solution:
No brainer as they can take over the clinic setup from their parents.
ROAD TO PG:
Once you have finished UG, you can write INICET-MS AND NEET MS and if you get a government college, they pay will pay you really well for three years and can learn skill because you'll have good hands on. experience. So my point of view would be BDS, it is a good career option if you have studied in a government college in a UG level or PG level
otherwise if you want to study in a private college by getting loans. it would be tiresome.
Once you have finished your studies, it takes time to earn, only meagre amount of return are expected at start and its really difficult to handle with interest loans.
I fall into first category but I opted for BDS in a private college and it was one of the decision I regret. (If you take a seat from private college make sure they have a sound OPD to work on)
Once I finished my internship with literally no confidence because of less hands on patient I felt like I had to do PG in a good college which has good OPD but still to get a good private college you need to invest a lot and am not ready to invest again because I had no back up and I don't want to fall into debt trap. I invested a year for preparing PG I could get a junior resident job in AIIMS New Delhi which s a temporary job but they paid well 1 lakh per month (but the seats are very limited)
Right now am preparing for PG and started few new ventures along with it with a positive attitude.

Well, there are a lot of factors to consider. What do you want to do? BDS may or may not have good career opportunities in the future. MBBS has endless potential (once you get through PG). But MBBS is a long, long road. MBBS, MD/MS, DM/MCh (if you want to do it) with gruelling entrance exams for each. You also have many career choices to make in the future, after MBBS. BDS is long too, but shorter than MBBS. BDS-MS and you are ready to roll (you can opt to specialise in different Dental branches but these are less straining choices than the ones in MBBS). What do you want from your career? Do you want just any job that pays the bills or do you want to pursue a passion, have a job satisfaction of having done something important? Do you want the pride of being a Cardiologist, renowned psychiatrist or a Surgeon or whatever you may imagine yourself to be or maybe you pride in being a dentist and find joy in working the teeth of people. Imagine your first dental patient. Imagine treating his caries (Dental is not just about caries, but still). Then imagine the second. The 3rd. Then the 10th. Then the 100th. Then the 10,000 th. So you think you would be okay with a 10,000 th dental patient? Repeat the process with the branch of your choice that you would take in MBBS. Now consider how you felt about the 10,000th patient in each case. Did you feel interested and enthusiastic for one or both? Did you feel trapped and suffocated for one or both? or did you not care at all and it was a routine for one or both? Then consider which out of BDS and MBBS will make you feel professionally good about yourself - BDS, MBBS, or both equally or do you find that you don't care. Consider the future. PG entrance is 10 times worse than MBBS entrance. Do you have the strength to go through that ordeal in MBBS? Would you have the money to help you out then if needed? I am not saying BDS is easy. However, it is certainly easier than MBBS. Consider another fact - where do you plan to work in the future? Private Practice or Government college? With BDS it is easier to set up private practice. The payment for consultants in Dental and Surgeons/Physicians is almost the same in government college. But a psychiatrist could set up shop just as easily and mint money (or not). And specialties get highly paid in private hospitals and have more demand abroad. Now these may not necessarily happen. You may not make a dime as a shrink if you arent good at it or your practice doesn't

Well, there are a lot of factors to consider. What do you want to do? BDS may or may not have good career opportunities in the future. MBBS has endless potential (once you get through PG). But MBBS is a long, long road. MBBS, MD/MS, DM/MCh (if you want to do it) with gruelling entrance exams for each. You also have many career choices to make in the future, after MBBS. BDS is long too, but shorter than MBBS. BDS-MS and you are ready to roll (you can opt to specialise in different Dental branches but these are less straining choices than the ones in MBBS). What do you want from your career? Do you want just any job that pays the bills or do you want to pursue a passion, have a job satisfaction of having done something important? Do you want the pride of being a Cardiologist, renowned psychiatrist or a Surgeon or whatever you may imagine yourself to be or maybe you pride in being a dentist and find joy in working the teeth of people. Imagine your first dental patient. Imagine treating his caries (Dental is not just about caries, but still). Then imagine the second. The 3rd. Then the 10th. Then the 100th. Then the 10,000 th. So you think you would be okay with a 10,000 th dental patient? Repeat the process with the branch of your choice that you would take in MBBS. Now consider how you felt about the 10,000th patient in each case. Did you feel interested and enthusiastic for one or both? Did you feel trapped and suffocated for one or both? or did you not care at all and it was a routine for one or both? Then consider which out of BDS and MBBS will make you feel professionally good about yourself - BDS, MBBS, or both equally or do you find that you don't care. Consider the future. PG entrance is 10 times worse than MBBS entrance. Do you have the strength to go through that ordeal in MBBS? Would you have the money to help you out then if needed? I am not saying BDS is easy. However, it is certainly easier than MBBS. Consider another fact - where do you plan to work in the future? Private Practice or Government college? With BDS it is easier to set up private practice. The payment for consultants in Dental and Surgeons/Physicians is almost the same in government college. But a psychiatrist could set up shop just as easily and mint money (or not). And specialties get highly paid in private hospitals and have more demand abroad. Now these may not necessarily happen. You may not make a dime as a shrink if you arent good at it or your practice doesn't