Need for practice management in undergraduate dental program - A cross sectional survey among the dentists.

Advancement in technology, enhancement of knowledge, elevated expectations from the patients regarding the quality of treatment, and economic factors are emerging as challenges to dentists, which demand emerging dentists to have skills on patient management and leadership through an improved curriculum. The aim of the present study was to conduct a survey among dentists regarding the need for practice management in undergraduate dental program. A total of 100 dentists from Chennai were involved in the study. They were made to answer 15 questions which were circulated online. The obtained data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software. It is evident that the majority of the dentists emphasize on including practice management courses in the undergraduate dental program as it may be helpful for the budding dentists in their future private practices. It can be concluded that the opinion of the dentists is strong and beneficial and should be considered.