Ersin Atinel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Izmir Chamber of Dentists (IZDO), called for a regulation on the number of dentistry faculties in order to prevent unfair competition in the sector.
Stating that the number of dentistry faculties providing service in Turkey has increased to 106, Atinel said that doctors who graduated from these faculties are facing unemployment.
Emphasizing that the dentistry faculties that are being opened one after another throughout Turkey are harming the profession more than they are helping, President Ersin Atinel said, “In some faculties where the academic staff is insufficient, students trained by research assistants and doctoral students are being graduated. There are some faculties in our country where the academic staff, medical equipment and application units are insufficient. In order to provide education in dentistry faculties, there must be at least one competent faculty member as the department head in each department. If these are detected, there is even a possibility that the diplomas of those who graduate from here will not be counted. There were 45 thousand dentists in our country last year; according to the current graduation figures, this number will increase to 5 thousand in 90 years. So many graduates cannot be employed, it will cause unfair competition in the sector and the quality will decrease. We expect the necessary steps to be taken by the government in this regard.”
NEW GRADUATES ARE LEFT UNEMPLOYED
Ersin Atinel continued his words as follows: “With the regulation introduced a year ago, a dentist has gained the right to employ another certified dentist alongside him. Naturally, physicians who own a practice want the person they will employ to be qualified. However, in addition to increasing operating costs; this regulation did not attract much attention due to the fact that some dentistry graduates do not have sufficient academic skills, experience and equipment. The pandemic process also caused some negativities for the sector due to distance education. There were disruptions in subjects such as approaching the patient, manual dexterity and practice that students can acquire within the faculty. Since these students do not have sufficient knowledge and experience, they face unemployment after graduation. Our greatest wish is to bring a sufficient number of well-equipped physicians to the sector that will meet the needs of the society.”
