A STUDENT of Southwestern University in Cebu topped this year’s licensure examinations for dentists.
Gino Arvin Baguio Santos, 23, a Davaoeño, ranked 6th in the exams with 83.03 percent mark.
The Professional Regulation Commission released the results two days after the last batch of examinees took the exams last May.
The PRC stated that 394 out of 402 people had passed the practical phase while 397 out of 857 had passed the written phase of the test conducted by the Board of Dentistry in Manila.
He is the only one in the top ten who came from a university in the Visayas. The rest are from Centro Escolar University-Manila, University of the Philippines-Manila, University of the East-Manila and Adventist University of the Philippines.
Santos said he attended review classes from January to February to prepare for the exam and did a self-review after that.
“I prepared myself to be 101 percent healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and most especially, spiritually,” said Santos.
He said he is blessed to have landed in the top ten.
“I wasn’t really expecting this. I was hoping, yes, but I didn’t expect, to lessen the disappointment. My first choice was actually nursing but I changed my mind at the last minute and took dentistry instead. It’s the first time in the family because I’m the first who took a licensure examination, and probably the last,” he said.
When asked about his plans, Santos said, “One of my dreams in life was to be a top-notcher of the dentist licensure examination. And now that I finally achieved it, my goal is to become the best dentist that I can be for the people that I’ll be treating in the future.”