Effective Academic Year (AY) 2021-2022, West Visayas State University (WVSU) will start its Doctor of Dental Medicine Program (DMD) in line its efforts towards increasing the number of dentists in the country, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Friday, May 21 announced.

CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said that WVSU will be the “first SUC in Region VI and the second in the country to offer the program.”

De Vera said that “CHED assisted WVSU with funds for the acquisition of equipment and other curricular needs and a three-story building will be constructed to house the youngest college” with the support of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

The Doctor of Dental Medicine program, De Vera added, is also included in the Free Higher Education Scholarship program of the government “so students will enjoy free tuition and miscellaneous fees.”

De Vera noted that the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila-College of Dentistry is the only public university with a dentistry program among the more than 20 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country.

The development of a dentistry program in WVSU, De Vera explained, is the result of a directive from President Duterte in a cabinet meeting “more than a year ago where the problem of dental health among young Filipinos was discussed.”

De Vera noted that while dentistry is covered under RA 10931 or the Free Higher Education law, “only UP had a dentistry program.” Thus, CHED identified SUCs with a strong medical program to add a dentistry program and “WVSU was granted authority to open.”

CHED said that the WVSU-DMD is a six-year program consisting of basic science, clinical science, and dental public health courses following the prescribed minimum standards stipulated in CMO no. 03 series of 2018.

The DMD program, CHED added, will produce “graduates for the general practice of the profession who are scientifically knowledgeable, technically skilled, socially sensitive and shall advance oral health as an integral part of the general health and total well-being of the individual.”

De Vera said that the the WVSU College of Dentistry “commits to educational excellence by developing lifelong learners through comprehensive dental education, interdisciplinary researches, and oral health services responsive to the evolving health care needs of the nation and global community.”

Meanwhile, WVSU President Joselito F. Villaruz noted that as a leading state university in medical education and nursing, WVSU will “assist the government in achieving its vision of providing one dentist in every barangay as a way of making primary oral health care accessible especially in rural and underserved areas.”