THE Health Ministry is offering scholarships for dentists to treat the very young and the old, to help address the shortage of dentists in these fields.

It will be giving out nine scholarships for paediatric dentistry and nine for geriatric and special needs dentistry over three years at an estimated cost of $3 million and $5 million respectively.

This is part of the ministry's plans to attract more dentists into these less popular fields, said Associate Professor Patrick Tseng, the ministry's chief dental officer.

While the take-up rate for paediatric dentistry has been encouraging, with six spots taken up, only one has been given for geriatric dentistry.

Out of the 257 specialist dentists in Singapore, only 12 are for infant and adolescent patients, and children with special health-care needs.

There is no postgraduate degree offered in this field in Singapore at the moment.

Dentists wanting to study paediatric dentistry have to go to institutions overseas.

In a 2003 national oral health survey of Singapore children, about 48 per cent of six-year-olds had tooth decay.

Almost half of them had four or more decayed teeth, indicating a need for specialist dentists in this field.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.