Sir, in India, caries is predicted to increase significantly and oral cancer is a growing problem. Meanwhile, the oral health workforce is showing a dramatic rise: the number of dental schools has increased from 95 to 290 within the last 20 years and more than 25,000 dentists are graduating each year in India. Most schools are in urban regions and partly as consequence the dentist-population ratio is as high as 1:4,000 in urban India while in rural areas can be as low as 1:30,000. Challenges include the fact that the disease burden is highest amongst the disadvantaged; oral health is not considered integral to general health; the inaccessibility of oral health services to people in rural regions; and much of modern dental practice is highly interventionist.