Masters of Dental Science (M.D.S.) is a postgraduate course in different disciplines of dentistry. A candidate has to be a Bachelor of Dental Science from a recognised university in order to be eligible for this course. 

M.D.S is a three year program that has almost nine speciality disciplines. The course follows an annual system over semester system. The mode of admission is solely through Entrance Examination which is either conducted by a state, university, national level.

Since there is a large quantity of colleges both private and government the average tuition fee tends to vary a lot. However, at an average, the fees for the entire course would range from 10 Lakhs INR to 25 Lakhs INR.  

Since this a professional or a career oriented course, students with an M.D.S degree can find employment in Dental departments of Hospitals, Dental Clinics, Research Centres, Educational Institutions as Dentists, Dental researcher, Dental Teacher etc. A fresh graduate of this course can expect an average annual salary of 1 Lakh INR to 2.5 Lakh INR. This salary would only increase with experience and on the type of hospitals and clinics.

Duration

This course follows the annual mode of examination and hence has no semester system. This course is completed over the duration of three years.

About the Course

Dental Science or Dental Surgery is a branch in the medical sciences which deals with dental and oral health. This course imparts the knowledge and the skills to solve these dental and oral health problems which are faced by most of the human population.                           

Specializations

In different colleges, students would find Master of Dental Health (Public Health) or some other variant. These are specializations and not an entirely different course. M.D.S provides the following specializations:

• Prosthodontics and Crown & Bridge
• Periodontology
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics
• Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics
• Oral Pathology and Microbiology
• Public Health Dentistry
• Paedodontics and Preventive Dentistry
• Oral Medicine and Radiology

Where to study?

This is a popular course which is present in many colleges and universities. Some of the Top colleges for Master in Dental Sciences are as follows:

• Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi
• Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
• SDM College of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad
• AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore

Academic Options after M.D.S

After completing this course, interested students can further continue research in the same specialisation as in their Masters degree and can pursue a Ph.D in M.D.S. from top Ph.D Dental science colleges like Jai Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore etc.

Candidate must have a bachelors degree obtained through their Graduation or an equivalent qualification with a minimum aggregate of 55% or equivalent CGPA of any of the Universities incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India. A Relaxation of 5% aggregate is there for SC/ST candidates