Dentistry cost limit enrollees

BAGUIO CITY — Pursuing a dentistry career is attracting more students as shown in the increasing enrollment in one of the colleges here. But the high investment in the course limits enrollees, according to Baguio City Dental Society officials.

In a special Kapihan at the Lion’s Club here, BCDS Public Relations Officer (PRO) Charles Baguilat said the tuition used to be P6,000 per semester at the Centro Escolar University in Manila. Now it is around P35,00 to P40,000 per semester, depending on the school.

“It is much cheaper in University of Baguio,” said Dr. Ruthgar Tecson, department head of the College of Dentistry, who said the tuition is around P560 per unit.

Tecson said UB freshmen classes in the College of Dentistry steadily grows each year and is starting to attract more. “Unlike in the previous years when enrollment really plunged because almost everybody wanted to be a nurse,” he said.

The Pines City Educational Institution charges P418 per unit on Dentistry.

A career in dentistry requires a two-year pre-dental course, followed by a four-year proper dentistry. Specialization in orthodontics or pediatric dentistry requires more years of proficiency training. Post graduate seminars and trainings are needed to renew the three-year professional license for dentists.

“Sometimes the trainings are held abroad that entails more expenses for dental professionals,” said BCDS incoming President Sylvestre Samson III. He said the long years of training for the dentistry profession makes the course expensive.

Besides long years of academic training Baguilat said, graduates in Dentistry have to put up their own clinic; procure their own equipment and clinic furnishings; and establish their own operation. “This (putting up a clinic) makes the dental course even more costly and difficult to pursue,” he said.

Besides, the entry into the College of Dentistry requires a dental clearance, Baguilat said. This is usually the problem with incoming freshmen, who are not properly advised about the dental checks-up and treatment done before they are admitted into the college.

“They either end up returning to their respective provinces to get more money for the needed dental check-up or they could not qualify due to some oral health inadequacies,” he said.

“Walang dentist na nagugutom,” (No dentist starves) Baguilat said, insinuating the profession offers a lucrative income and a comfortable life. “But dentists do not get rich,” he quipped. He said there are a lot of dentists in town for a limited market.

Standardization in the cost of dental education is yet to be achieved and is being worked out by dental associations. Like the cost of dental treatment, which depends largely on the academic and professional background of the dentist, the quality of service and the materials used in the treatment and the procedures, the cost of dental education varies depending on the school facilities, its faculty and the quality of education and training one gets, according to Samson. # Lyn V. Ramo(NorthernDispatch)