Penang International Dental College

Penang International Dental College (PIDC), has been fully accreditated by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency in 2010. It is the first twinning dental programme run by the Vinayaka Missions University. The five years' programme was approved by the Ministry of Higher Education which allowed an intake of 50 students and this has subsequently been raised to 75 per year. It is Malaysia's first stand alone full-fledged dental college and specialist dental centre which offers state-of-the-art dental care. The dental clinic which has been fully operational for the past 5 years has already started to play a major role in the development of dental care, especially for patients who are from the lower income group, the physically and mentally challenged groups and senior citizens as well. As part of its social obligation, PIDC provides subsidized dental treatment for the lower socio-economic groups. The institution works together with the Penang state government, NGOs and welfare organizations to create awareness and encourage people from the lower socio-economic groups to obtain specialist dental care at very affordable fees. Students are based in Salem, India for their pre-clinical studies for two years and thereafter they pursue the final three years of clinical studies in the Butterworth campus. Malaysia's present dentist: patient ratio is one doctor to 10,500 patients while the ideal ratio is 1:4,000 (WHO standard). PIDC is offering more dental seats to produce more dentists to meet the demand. PIDC is in association with Vinayaka Missions University of India which currently manages 25 colleges in India and produces 25,000 graduates a year. The PIDC Centre in Butterworth consists of three polyclinics with 75 dental units. Every dental unit is capable of delivering the full range of treatment options. There are state-of-art diagnostic imaging facilities capable of taking full Orthopantomographs (OPGs), Cephalometric analysis and intra-oral radiographs. The college and specialist dental centre are also equipped with a Prosthetics laboratory complete with dry and wet labs for the construction of dentures and Orthodontic appliances. It has a library and an Oral Pathology laboratory to facilitate the learning and teaching requirements. Safety and practice of infection control for students, staff and patients are also paramount in the management philosophy. There are specialists in every department and visiting lecturers for Medicine, Surgery, Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry. Third year students also obtain their training for Medicine and Surgery at Penang hospital.