Taking the Bite Out of Dental Readiness: Assessing Readiness in the National Guard and the Reserves

摘要

The activation and deployment of the National Guard and Reserves have increased since September 11, 2001. There is an emphasis on keeping those units manned, equipped, trained, and ready for future deployments and cases of national contingencies. Medical readiness plays a critical role in service members being able to accomplish their mission. Dental readiness is one essential part of medical readiness, and therefore is of national importance. The Army and Marine Corps are not meeting dental readiness goals for their reserve components. There is a description for each Services ready rotations and mobilization of their Reserve and National Guard forces. This paper examines the dental readiness of Reserve and National Guard units, discusses some issues related to service members seeking dental care, and explores the role of those issues in military readiness. Moreover, the paper describes programs available to the Services and proposes solutions to mitigate poor dental readiness in order to meet these challenges of in the National Guard and Reserve forces. Each Service needs to use the resources identified in this paper to improve dental readiness.