DEPARTMENT OF ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL PATHOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY.
TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT DENTAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL,
CHENNAI 600003, INDIA.
- BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT
The department of ORAL PATHOLOGY initially functioned as a composite department of ORAL MEDICINE and PATHOLOGY in the erstwhile DENTAL WING OF THE MADRAS MEDICAL COLLEGE AND GOVERNMENT GENERAL HOSPITAL (Re-christened as Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital), Chennai. The composite department was headed by Prof. Dr. K. Ramachandran, BSc, BDS, FDSRCS (England) with his team of faculties, notably, Dr. R. Viswanathan, Dr. B. Balaji Rao, Dr. N. Gnanasundaram, Dr. Gopalakrishnan, Dr. T. R. Saraswathi, Dr. Vijayaraghavan, and others. The credit should go to this team of faculties for the initiation, preservation and maintenance of written pathology records, tissue blocks and glass slides since 1970 which serve as a rich treasure of educational resource archive. Prof. Dr. K. Ramachandran was instrumental in shaping the academic pathways of Dr. R. Viswanathan (MDS Oral Pathology from Nair Hospital Dental College, then Bombay, Maharashtra, India), Dr. N. Gnanasundaram (MDS Oral Medicine, Diagnosis and Radiology from Government Dental College, Bangalore, Karnataka, India), and Dr. T. R. Saraswathi (M.Sc (Oral Pathology, from Institute of Dental Surgery at Eastman Dental Hospital, London, United Kingdom).
The composite department of ORAL MEDICINE and PATHOLOGY branched out as a distinct department consequent to the acquisition of postgraduate qualification in MDS Oral Pathology and MDS Oral Medicine by Dr. R. Viswanathan and Dr. N. Gnanasundaram, respectively. The postgraduate course in MDS Oral Pathology was started in 1981 (the then Madras Dental College), with the admission of two in-service candidates, namely, Dr. Chandrabai and Dr. T. Chandrasekar. The subsequent year had Dr. T. R. Saraswathi and Dr. G. S. Kumar as MDS postgraduate students. It may be noted that Dr. T. R. Saraswathi had also acquired M.Sc Oral Pathology (prior to MDS) under the stewardship of Emeritus Professor Ivor Robert Horton Kramar who was Professor of Oral Pathology and Dean and Director of Studies of the Institute of Dental Surgery at the Eastman Dental Hospital from 1970 to 1983. In addition, the postgraduate department has seen a number of faculties who headed the Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology in the cadre of READER / PROFESSOR in the following order Dr. R. Viswanathan, Dr. T. R. Saraswathi, R. Viswanathan, Dr. Chandrabai, Dr. T. R. Saraswathi, and Dr. Shaheen Ahmed. Many successful oral pathologists who work elsewhere were former MDS students of this department.
The department has both clinical pathology and diagnostic oral and maxillofacial histopathology sections. In the latter, routine and special staining techniques are employed for the purpose of issuing pathology reports and imparting postgraduate training. The department also receives biopsies from various dental departments of the government-run medical colleges and private practitioners. About 600 to 700 histopathology cases are encountered annually and the patient records including clinical, radiologic, and advanced imaging are available in digital image formats from 2009 in most cases. The objective of the department is twofold; (i) to train BDS students in the subjects of TOOTH MORPHOLOGY, ORAL HISTOLOGY AND ORAL PATHOLOGY in the first, second and third year of course. (ii) to train MDS students in acquiring the requisite skills in practicing Diagnostic Oral Pathology and Research. The department provides extensive postgraduate training in clinical examination, grossing of tissue specimens and radiographic and histological interpretations of the surgical specimens that would enable them to apply relevant clinicopathologic correlations to help ensure accurate morphological diagnosis. The interns are trained to assist in grossing of tissue specimens and hematology. They are encouraged to examine patients and collect clinical photos to formulate a working differential diagnosis during their 15-days of posting. The department is also actively engaged in training the graduate and postgraduate students in academic writing.
2. SANCTIONED POST FOR THE DEPARTMENT
| S. NO | SANCTIONED POST | NUMBER OF POSTS |
| 1 | Professor | 2 |
| 2 | Associate Professor | 3 |
| 3 | Assistant Professor | 5 |
| Total | 10 |
3. LIST OF FACULTIES WITH DESIGNATION
| S. NO | NAME OF THE FACULTY | DESIGNATION |
| 1 | Dr. I. Ponniah | Professor& Head |
| 2 | Dr.R. Bharathi | Professor |
| 3 | Dr. S. Gnanadeepam | Associate Professor |
| 4 | Dr. S. Kuzhali | Assistant Professor |
| 5 | Dr. S.P. Selvajothi Ranjitham | Assistant Professor |
| 6 | Dr.J. Dhanalakshmi | Assistant Professor |
| 7 | Dr.V. Shanthi | Assistant Professor |
| 8 | Dr.J. Jude | Assistant Professor |
4. ACHIEVEMENTS OF FACULTIES
| Sl. No | Name of the faculty | No. of publications | No of researches | No. of books written/ edited | No. of paper presented | |
| National | International | |||||
| 1 | Dr.I.Ponniah | 10 | 19 | 2 | Nil | Nil |
| 2 | Dr.R.Bharathi | 14 | 3 | 2 | Nil | Nil |
| 3 | Dr. S. Gnanadeepam | 12 | 1 | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| 4 | Dr. S. Kuzhali | 7 | Nil | 1 | Nil | Nil |
| 5 | Dr.S.P.Selvajothi | 9 | 2 | Nil | Nil | 1 |
| 6 | Dr.J.Dhanalakshmi | 7 | 2 | 2 | Nil | Nil |
| 7 | Dr.V.Shanthi | 6 | 4 | Nil | Nil | Nil |
| 8 | Dr.J.Jude | 6 | Nil | 0 | Nil | Nil |
5. PATIENT SERVICE OFFERED IN THE DEPARTMENT:
a. Histopathology
b. Cytology
c. Hematology
