Pakistan is moving closer to launching formal FCPS training in paediatric dentistry, with the country's first intake likely beginning in 2027, as the profession confronts a shortage of trained specialists and growing pressure to strengthen paediatric dental education.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) had recently announed to introduce its first Fellowship Programme in Paediatric Dentistry, bringing the specialty into Pakistan's FCPS training structure. The latest Dental News Podcast has now provided a clearer picture of what comes next — and how soon training could realistically begin.
Speaking on the latest Dental News Podcast, paediatric dentistry specialist and Head of the Department of Paediatric Dentistry at Dow International Dental College Dr. Aneeka Anwar said the next major step would be completing the required workshops and other programme requirements before the first batch can enter the pathway. When asked whether 2027 could see the first batch, Dr. Aneeka said she was hopeful that this could be achieved, while describing the new FCPS pathway as a potential “game changer” for paediatric dentistry in Pakistan.
Dr. Aneeka Anwar is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and also a Consultant Paediatric Dentist at the Aga Khan University Hospital. She has also taken on an examiner role with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh after completing its examiner training process.
The FCPS development could have implications well beyond postgraduate education. Dr. Aneeka said the shortage of paediatric dental specialists is already creating difficulties for dental institutions trying to expand dedicated teaching and clinical services for children.
She said the shortage is particularly acute in Karachi, where the number of universities and dental colleges exceeds the capacity of the relatively small pool of specialists currently available to teach the discipline.
“There are a few of us who are already working in universities, but if you just consider Karachi, there are so many universities that we simply cannot cover all of them,” she said during the podcast, linking the long-term solution directly to the development of local postgraduate training.
The workforce problem has previously been acknowledged at regulatory level. Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) Teaching Regulations 2025 cited a “dearth of Pediatric Dental Specialists” and temporarily allowed appropriately qualified Operative Dentistry faculty to teach pedodontics until the end of 2025 while specialist capacity remained limited.
She said the introduction of a formal FCPS route could eventually create a self-sustaining cycle in which newly trained paediatric dentists return to academic institutions, hospitals and clinical practice, increasing both access to specialist care and the number of faculty available to train future dentists.
That could take time. Even if an initial batch begins in 2027, specialist production would not immediately solve current faculty shortages. But Dr. Aneeka argued that formal postgraduate training is the necessary starting point.
Once locally trained paediatric dentists begin graduating, she said, they could help expand the specialty across dental colleges while providing a clearer career pathway for graduates who currently have relatively few structured options in paediatric dentistry.
The new fellowship pathway may therefore arrive at an important moment for young dentists deciding where to specialise.
Dr. Aneeka urged BDS graduates and house officers to actively explore paediatric dentistry during their rotations, saying Pakistan currently has too few professionals specifically trained and comfortable in managing paediatric patients.
She described paediatric dentistry as a broad specialty incorporating restorative dentistry, endodontic treatment, minor oral surgery, preventive care and minor orthodontic intervention, with patients extending from infancy through adolescence.
The emerging FCPS pathway could therefore do more than add another qualification to Pakistan's postgraduate dental landscape. It could help formalise a specialty that has long existed clinically but has lacked the same locally established fellowship infrastructure available in several traditional dental disciplines.
CPSP's decision to formally introduce the fellowship programme is significant. The unanswered question now is how quickly training centres, faculty, workshops and accreditation requirements can be aligned to allow residents to enter the programme.
For dental graduates watching the field closely, 2027 may become an important year — but the first intake remains subject to completion of the required programme preparations and formal implementation by CPSP.
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