To explore and develop a model to maintain and build upon a dental clinic open for all in developing regions, with a primary focus on India

Core Tip

Core tip: One of the primary reasons for the challenges faced by dental health care in a developing country like India is that when primary health care systems were being implemented, dental health care was not included. Also, although expenditure on health care systems form a significant percentage of the gross domestic product (nearly 5%), it is very small compared to the total population of the country. On top of that, the amount of money spent on dental health care is less compared to some other nations. This has left dental health care in India far behind other health services. The following are some of the challenges faced by dental health care in India: (1) expensive treatment; (2) imbalanced distribution of clinics; (3) unawareness; (4) skewed population to dentist ratio; and (5) changing disease pattern and treatment needs. People in developing regions suffer from different types of dental diseases, which are curable with treatment but not affordable by most people. In this study, a service model was developed that enables a clinic to be open to all members of the community, irrespective of their ability to pay.