Dr. Anuj Bharadwaj is the HOD of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics at the College of Dental Science and Hospital at Indore. He holds a BDS and an MDS in Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics. Before working at CDHS, he has also worked at Universitas Airlangga. Indonesia, Microdentistry Training Academy, and as Director at Bhardwaj Dental Clinic, Indore.

Dr. Bharadwaj has taken part in and organised several dental conferences. He has presented numerous papers and has worked as a Guest Lecturer at different institutes as well. Additionally, he has published over 60 papers in national and international publications.

College Of Dental Science

Being an HOD at CDSH, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

Being the HOD of the department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, my team aims to monitor the clinical cases taken up by undergraduates. Guiding and supervising interns and postgraduate students in clinical and research work is another important responsibility. Moreover, I assist in the department’s administrative work as well as the integrated management system.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

By allotting an individual staff member to every student according to the exercise/ OPD day, we try to increase the relationship and bonding among all stakeholders. For example, postgraduate and undergraduate clinical cases must be seen by the OPD in charge of a particular day. For postgraduate students’ academic work, like library dissertations, one staff member is allotted per student along with a guide to help them out.

How do you try to bring in practical approach towards subjects and make it industry oriented?

By starting preclinical work in the second year of the BDS programme in the pre-clinical training, we try to start early in giving students industry skills. We also try to teach both hand and rotary instrumentation. By developing competency to treat anterior, premolar, and first molars with minimal canal/ morphology variations under rubber dam isolation with contemporary equipment like apex locators, endo motors, and digital radiography, the college aims to bring a practical aspect to the courses.

What are the best practices offered by the Institute to the students, which help them gaining necessary skills?

Our institute has an advanced Intra Oral Scanner System with new standards in dental scanning technologies, novel automated irrigation and obturation devices, and microscopes for magnification. We also have the latest updates and new demonstrations in the classroom. These are some of our best practises.

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often it gets updated to make it befitting for the students?

The department’s curriculum is updated every year as new students join the college. The curriculum is decided according to the OPD and the quota provided by DCI for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Our curriculum also follows the current DCI rules.

How do you help your students to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

Our students are encouraged to stay competitive by updating and brushing up on their knowledge with the help of regular seminars and journal club presentations. These help in improving their skills on a regular basis, and they get to learn about advanced technologies like performing clinical work under loupes and microscopes. Also, by providing them with the maximum number of cases, we help them to enhance their speed and working efficiency.

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Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to the real world challenges?

On a regular basis, we organise workshops and hands-on programmes on clinical-oriented topics for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Also, we take the students to international conferences and conventions, which are compulsory for postgraduate students, so that they get maximum exposure to advanced dentistry.

When you came to the Institute, what was your vision and how are you trying to achieve the same?

We are currently working on enhancing the quality of our work by approaching different institutes for faculty and student exchange programmes as well as research collaborations. Our aim is to make the institution comparable to Southern colleges and universities and to be the best in MP and in the entire central Indian region.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to train/teach the students?

Apart from the curriculum, our postgraduate students are instructed to read in the library every day for 1-1.5 hours after college. Thereafter, they have to report back the next day on what they have read. We have also made it mandatory for undergraduate students to assist postgraduate students so that they can learn from them. We also make use of our journal clubs, group discussions, seminars, and interdisciplinary presentations to teach our students.

What do you see the Department’s greatest strengths and how it can be enhanced?

Teamwork is the greatest strength of our department. We take the time to build a bond between the students and the faculty members. There is mutual respect among all, and we are always open to listening to our student’s problems. This has created a collaborative and friendly atmosphere on our campus, which is a definite strength.

What valuable advice would you like to give to the students to have a prosperous career ahead?

I believe success is being always present, having the right knowledge about patient work, and having optimum clinical and patient exposure. Look into polishing your skills whenever you get the chance, through higher education and by participating in extracurricular activities. Make the effort to regularly attend national and international conferences that will help with networking.