Endodontics and dental readiness

The primary mission of the Dental Corps--maintaining the dental health of our soldiers at an optimum level to ensure their readiness to deploy and fight--is more important than ever in today's downsized, high-operational-tempo Army. A review of the literature indicates that 20 to 25% of all soldiers will report on dental sick call during a 1-year deployment, and approximately half will require endodontic intervention. This could cost a division more than 18,000 man-days of combat effectiveness in a theater of battle, an unacceptable loss. Approximately three-fourths of these sick call visits could be prevented if selected conditions were identified and treated before deployment. Endodontic conditions, which result in the majority of dental sick call complaints, should be given priority for treatment in garrison, and the identified soldier should be placed in dental fitness class 3 until the tooth is definitively treated.