Navy Dentistry — Innovative and Collaborative Care

ABSTRACT

The Navy Dental Corps was established in 1912 and has served the Navy globally since. The Navy Dental Corps is comprised of more than 1,300 active duty and reserve dentists who are practicing or training in 14 different dental specialties, in addition to General Dentistry. Navy dentists are stationed at military treatment facilities, clinics, and hospitals located within the United States and various overseas locations. Additionally, Navy dentists can be assigned to a multi-specialty dental clinic, a large teaching hospital, with a Navy Construction Battalion (“Seabees”), Marine Corps battalions (Fleet Marine Forces), or an amphibious assault ship, aircraft carrier, or hospital ship. The primary mission of each dentist is to ensure that Service members are medically ready to deploy; thus, clinic schedules can consist of a great many duties, to include ensuring that providers are ready as well. There are also opportunities for dentists to be the leaders of large medical clinics and hospitals. The Defense Health Agency oversees healthcare delivery, which includes dental care, while the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) oversees the readiness of our force. There is alignment between these two organizations while maintaining unique missions of the Department of Defense. In addition, all Navy dental clinics must comply with The Joint Commission’s policies. There are five Navy Medicine accession programs available for those interested in the Navy Dental Corps: Navy scholarship to dental school, Financial Assistance Program for specialty training, Navy Active Duty Delay for Specialists Program, Direct Accession and Reserve Direct Commission Officer.

KEYWORDS:

• Navy
• dentistry
• Ghana
• service
• deployment
• military

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Hammer

Daniel Hammer, DDS, FACS, is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon with Certificate of Added Qualification in Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstrcutive Surgery. He is Vice Chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

Eric Evans

Eric Evans, DDS, MS, is a Comprehensive Dentist and Facilitator of the Naval Leadership and Ethics Course for the Navy Prospective Commanding Officers and Executive Officers in Newport, Rhode Island.

Jayson Huber

Jayson Huber, DDS, MS, is a Comprehensive Dentist and Program Director of the Comprehensive Dentistry Residency at the Naval Postgraduate Dental School in Bethesda, Maryland.

Katherine Cheng

Katherine Cheng, DDS, MS, is a Comprehensive Dentist and currently Head of US Navy Dental Corps Policies and Procedures at the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Falls Church, Virginia.

Kathi Buss

Kathi Buss, DDS, DPH, is a Public Health Dentist and Navy Dental Corps Career Planner at the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Falls Church, Virginia.