Rethinking resource optimisation in South African public dental service and education

Abstract

The training of a competent dentist is a delicate alchemy: a fusion of expert instruction, clinical exposure and institutional support. Yet, for South African dental schools, this alchemy may be easily disrupted. Faculty shortages, risks to sessional staff reductions, outdated infrastructure and systemic inefficiencies are converging to form a perfect storm of resource constraints. The result? A strained 
academic system, overburdened educator-clinicians and graduates struggling to meet the evolving demands of modern dentistry.