Dental Council of India which is observing its Diamond Jubilee is gearing up to focus on the increase the quality of dental education and over all improvement of its specialty offering.

In this regard, the Council has chalked out a national programme. The first such programme has been arranged in Nimhans Convention Centre, Bangalore where 2 days of Continuing Dental Education will focus on the latest "CADCAM" technique and other scientific presentations by dental experts.

The 60th year celebrations was inaugurated today by Dr. V.S. Acharya, Home Minister, Government of Karnataka. Also present were Dr. S Ramanand Shetty, Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore and Dr. C N Ashwathnarayan, MLA, Government of Karnataka. Dr. Anil Kohli, President, Dental Council of India.

According to Dr. Ganapathy, chairman Dental Council of India, a high standard of dental education has been maintained by the Council but also brought about rationalization and paradigm shift in keeping with the tremendous advances seen in Dental Sciences in the past decade or two.

Since its inception, DCI has been introducing modified curricula and syllabi to keep pace with evolution of newer techniques in the treatment of various Dento - Oral disorders. This has been made possible by the invaluable contribution made by the members of DCI throughout 60 years, he added.

The Dental Council of India was established in 1949 under an Act of Parliament - The Dentist Act 1948 (XVI of 1948) was entrusted the maintenance of uniform standards of Dental Education in the country both at UG and PG levels. It also focused on providing a standard curriculum for training of Dentists, Dental Hygienists and Dental Mechanics. In 1992, DCI had given the powers to restrict mushroom growth of dental colleges increase of seats and starting of new higher courses without prior permission.