Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Dec 17: For the first time in the world, a dental research laboratory is planned to be built in the city. It will come up at Maryhill here where the regional centre of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences will be established.

There are 313 dental colleges in the country out of which 44 are in Karnataka. But so far there has not been any exclusive research laboratory for the dental sector. Therefore, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences has planned to install this lab.

Everything used in the dental sector like paste, brush, metal wire used to repair teeth, cement etc have to be properly researched. Before releasing any dental product into the market, a certificate from the authorised lab has to be obtained about the non-existence of harmful content and side effects.

As there is no full-fledged research laboratory for the dental sector, the concerned are dependent on various laboratories, The people had to move between engineering laboratory, medical laboratory, chemical laboratory etc but the lab in the city will have all these facilities together. This lab will have modern facilities including an electron microscope costing five crore rupees.

University senate and syndicate member Dr Shivasharan Shetty said that demand for separate dental research labs had been taken up at different meetings. Efforts were also made to set up a regional centre of the university here. These efforts have borne fruit now. The first-ever lab in the state will begin functioning in two years, and postgraduate dental students will also benefit from this lab. Even companies connected with dental health can use this lab, he explained.