Fractured Tooth Stabilized with Auto Body Repair Resin on a 1970 Royal Navy Polaris Submarine Patrol

INTRODUCTION: In February 1970, halfway through a Polaris submarine war patrol in SSBN-02 HMS Renown (port crew), a Petty Officer presented to the sick bay in excruciating pain with a broken upper left molar tooth. The zinc oxide/clove oil mixture would not stick on to the vertical face of the fracture. In preparation for such events, Royal Navy (RN) submarine medical officers are taught excellent fundamental dental skills. In this case, it seemed a very difficult job to extract the remains of the tooth. The author reports the first known use of glass fiber/resin in the RN to crown and treat a fractured molar, cover the root, and save the tooth, and to recommend that all military and civilian medical staff working anywhere in isolation with no dental facility locally be given similar training to that which RN submarine medical officers receive before being sent on extended dives.Brooks CJ.