There are scores of dentistry degree holders in Kashmir who crave for the adjustment to earn their livelihood
JOBLESSNESS
DR MALEEHA PARVAIZ
maleehaparvaiz@gmail.com
Right from the beginning of our lives, we are asked to choose noble professions in our lives. We are taught how doctors are the pillars of the society. At least, once in a lifetime, everyone must have dreamed of becoming a doctor. And many people do realize this dream. Quite many are so who become doctors but later bore the brunt of their holding a particular degree.
In our society dentists are the people who either just remove your teeth or can perform restorations. Dentistry is concerned with the facial aspects of the body. Face is usually the first thing that someone notices in you. And dentists are the people who deal with the aesthetics of a person. They provide dentures or they give implants that not just help people to eat properly but
also change the appearance of a person. One of the other branches completely changes how a person looks. It is a game changer for the people with malocclusion of the jaws.
Dentists perform restorations and root canal which can save a tooth. People get to eat and
do talk. Dentists cleanse and polish your teeth. This profession doesn’t differentiate on the basis of age, health or gender. Children have their own specialty to take care of their “milk teeth”. Dentists are highly trained to provide treatment to the people with special needs. And to help them become comfortable during dental treatment.
However, the society is ignorant about the role that these dental doctors play in their lives.
What people don’t know is that dentistry in itself is divided into many branches. And that is
for a reason. All the specialties of dentistry have their own beauty. It would have been
unfair to them had they been fitted in the MBBS curriculum. And it is a job that doesn’t just
require knowledge but skill of hands too. It is a fusion of art and science. But the dentists
are mocked everywhere. They are not respected like MBBS doctors. Their work is never
valued and their skill is never appreciated. Yet, they work tirelessly to cure their people.
How sad, the dentistry is also the profession in this country who work day and night for their 5 years’ degree only to have no jobs in the future!
In western countries, dentistry is among the highest paid jobs. People in those countries respect their dentists and appreciate their work. Dentistry is so advanced in those countries. Because people value their oral health vis-à-vis their dentists. But nothing like this is present in our country.
In 2020, a dream took flight, landing at a college with a dwindling light. Voices echoed, “Don’t tread that way”. But an inner voice decided to stay. Society grumbled loudly, “Why choose a path that ends in fear?” “No jobs, no future,” their chorus echoed. But hope hummed quietly in my heart. And for fourteen years dental surgeons were left behind, working hard day in and day out with yet still a far away respect with a dream of breaking unseen chains. The labor of our hands, the perspiration of our brow, will earn the respect we’re denied now. Triumphs are turned into an everlasting haze by the society taunting gaze. However, there is still a fire deep within,
“A dream of breaking unseen chains
For hope is a seed in the Desert,
It grow with patience, sweat, and toil.
We’ll forge a path, steady and strong,
And prove them wrong, where we belong.
“We are worthy, we will prevail
Our hope is the wind that fills our sail.
So let them mock and jeer,
Because the voice inside is quite clear.
Dentists have been waiting for their jobs for more than a decade now. Their
demand is left unheard. Their voices silenced. Students in their under-graduation still
prepare for NEET exams for the lack of job opportunities in the future. This beautiful and
progressive profession is becoming a nightmare for the youth. People who have already
graduated have to work in the private clinics of already established doctor or they are
jobless and depressed. No one cares for them. No body joins them when they protest on
streets for their rights. They are alone in this fight. However, in spite of all the mockery and
depression, they expose themselves to various health hazards only to relieve the pain of
their patients.
As Martin Luther King Jr has said,”We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose
infinite hope.” We are hopeful that one day this dark phase will end. And we’ll have jobs
and our field will progress. We have faith that one day no UG dental student shall retake
NEET exam. The youth will join dental college happily. We hope that the society will know
our worth. We know that our hope shall prevail. And our hope shall triumph over despair one day.
____________________________________________________________________________
The writer is an Intern at Indira Gandhi Govt. Dental College, Jammu
