RP's 1st prosthodontist is also a teacher at UV

The country's first prosthodontist and the only one of her kind in the Visayas and Mindanao areas is currently holding a teaching position at the University of the Visayas-Gullas College of Dentistry in its campus in Banilad, Cebu City.

"We are so blessed to have Dr. Vimbie Negapatan Book in our school. She has the expertise and wealth of knowledge not found in any other dental schools in the country," says Jelbert Seno, dean of UV's College of Dentistry.

A prosthodontist is a dentist who specializes in restoring natural teeth and creating and placing natural-looking substitute or prosthetic teeth. A prosthodontist's professional education includes several years of additional training after dental school in an accredited advanced dental education program.

Book is a source of pride of the college as she herself finished her Masters of Dental Science in Prosthetic Dentistry at Dental Hospital, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

She is a fellow of Pierre Faurchard Academy, an international dental honor organization recommended by dentists. She is also a fellow of the International College of Dentists and a member of the Academy of Dentistry International.

Book is the daughter of a former international check pilot for international flying of the Philippine Airlines, Capt. Julian Book and former Tabogon mayor Jesusa Negapatan.

A graduate of the University of the East, she is a third placer in the Dental Board Licensure Examination. She was also awarded as Most Outstanding Alumnae of UE in 1988.

She was then a dental officer of the Ministry of Health of Brunei and currently the technical consultant and chairperson of the Prosthodontic Unit of the University of the Visayas-Gullas College of Dentistry.

Book's high credentials is in consonance with the University's commitment to be globally competitive, aimed to provide knowledge, which, with the emerging trends in a technologically advance world, would meet the needs and interests of local students as well as foreign students.

Having observed that poor dental services in Cebu and other provinces in the Visayas are prevalent, UV's College of Dentistry is committed to help develop a solution to dental and oral diseases referred to as the "silent epidemic".

In the Visayas and neighboring Mindanao, residents prefer to send students interested in dentistry to Manila where majority of the dentals schools are found, 17 are most preferred out of 24 dental schools.

UV's College of Dentistry opened its doors to the four-year dentistry course last July 2003. Dr. Book said they hope to produce topnotchers among pioneering graduates in 2007. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan