Similarities and differences in specialty training of conservative dentistry and endodontics (India), operative dentistry (Pakistan) and restorative dentistry-endodontics (United Kingdom)

Dental education and training in Pakistan and India are largely influenced by the British system of education. However, there are some differences in the mode of postgraduate training in these countries. In Pakistan, hospital-based residency training is the mainstay, culminating in a fellowship diploma awarded by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan. Whereas, in Indian students of dentistry pursue university-based MDS programme as the primary pathway to specialist training. From the beginning the Indian dental academia has remained vigilant in adopting a correct nomenclature for the specialty concerned with the dental conservation. They named it Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics while in Pakistan the same specialty termed Operative Dentistry has become an obsolete term and does not represent the scope of work practiced by specialists in this discipline. A simple addition of the term "Endodontics" to the present nomenclature of "Operative Dentistry" will resolve the matter of a missing identity in a clinical specialty in Pakistan. The present paper suggests the need for advocacy to change the term used for this particular dental specialty.