Malaysia needs 5,000 more dentists by 2020

• More dentists are needed to improve dental care in the country

For every 6,000 people, there is one dentist. That's the ratio of dentist to patients in Malaysia presently. This is expected to improve by 2020 with 15 institutions of higher learning offering dentistry to about 800 students yearly.

Currently, there are 4,000 dentists operating in the country.

According to Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Malaysia is expected to achieve a ratio of 1:3,000 patients in the next seven years.

However, this number is not enough to serve the country's population of 29 million.