Concentration of undergraduate dental college admissions in areas with high health and human development in India.

The aims of this study were to determine if dental colleges are clustered in selective states in India and if population to dental college admissions (seats) is correlated with regional health, economic, and human development in that country. There are 29 states and seven union territories in India, with 301 dental colleges. This study used publicly available data from the Dental Council of India, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Institute of Applied Manpower Research of the Government of India. Non-parametric tests were used to test for associations. In academic year 2013-14, a total of 293 approved and recognized colleges were in existence, and a total of 23,780 seats were available in all dental colleges. Close to 54% of all dental colleges and 55% of all dental college seats were clustered in five states. The mean population per dental college seat was 94,324 (median was 46,898, and range was a minimum of 2,432 to a maximum of 780,139). The population to one dental college seat decreased significantly as the health and human development index increased (p<0.05). The results showed that dental colleges are clustered in a few states, leaving multiple states in India with no dental colleges. Dental colleges appear to be located in states with high health, economic, and human development indices, thus doing little to address the imbalance in dentist to population ratios in states that are disadvantaged in terms of health, economics, and human development.