An investigation of the Filipino dental students' personality types

ABSTRACT

@#<p style="text-align justify;"><strong>BACKGROUND</strong> The Dentist Licensure Examination (DLE) is one of the most difficult pre-professional practice examinations in the Philippines. The personality type of a dental student can be a determining factor or a testfor-fit of the chosen college program, the DLE, and the eventual profession.</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>OBJECTIVES</strong> This study aimed to document the personality dichotomies and MBTI personality categories of the respondents.</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>METHODS</strong> Through the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), this cross-sectional investigation examined the Filipino students' personality type in a dental school in the Philippines and presented it through descriptive statistics.</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>RESULTS</strong> In retrospect to the personality dichotomies, majority or 44 (17.19%) of the students were of the Introverted feeling with intuition variety or the Introversion Intuition Feeling Perceiving (INFP) type. This personality type does not coincide with that of a dentist or dental student in other studies.</p><p style="text-align justify;"><strong>CONCLUSION</strong> The mainstream dental students' personality types were inclined to traits that are indicative of the INFP professions (e.g. artists, counselors, social workers, etc.) and not of a prospective dentist. These findings will add to the database of dental education in the Philippines, and will enable the dental educators and schools to improve their educational strategies.</p>