Around 10%-55% of BDS and MDS Seats Have Remain Unfilled Across India for Over 5 Years

For the past five years, both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) dental programmes at Indian institutes have witnessed between 10% and 55% of seats become empty year after year. According to data obtained from the Dental Council of India (DCI), there were 1,89,420 Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) seats offered between 2016-17 and 2022-23, with 36,585 seats remaining unfilled.

Seats in private dentistry institutes have been going unfilled in India for years. To be eligible for admission to a dental institute, an aspirant must score at least 50 percentiles in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG). However, in 2021, the state of Karnataka sought to reduce this eligibility score to 20 percentiles after nearly 60% of their seats in private dental colleges remained vacant even after two rounds of admission.

Over 5,000 of the 38,487 Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) seats available from 2017-18 to 2022-23 remained unfilled. According to industry sources, private dental colleges in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Punjab have been struck the hardest.