Photo By Cpl. Jacob A. Singsank | Lt. Jesus M. Gonzalez, 29, from El Paso, Texas, a dental officer with the 13 Area...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — There's a place on base where the main focus is to keep service members smiling.
The 13 Area Dental Clinic, 1st Dental Company, 1st Dental Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group provides a variety of dental procedures and specialty care ranging from annual checkups to oral surgery.
"We're here to provide dental care to all active duty military members and retirees, depending on space available," said Lt. Jesus M. Gonzalez, a dental officer with the 13 Area Dental Clinic.
The 13 Area Dental Clinic is the largest of the 10 offices on base. The dental care facility is staffed with 15 dentists who care for approximately 800 patients a week. Dental specialists at the clinic provide all the advanced medical procedures for most of Marine Corps Installations — West and a majority of the recruiting stations in southern California.
The clinic provides 24-hour emergency dental care for Marines and Sailors around the base who are suffering from oral pain due to common training and liberty accidents.
Dentists with the 13 Area Dental Clinic focus on maintaining operational readiness due to service members constantly deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. Military personnel need to receive pre-deployment checkups to prevent the chance of an oral emergency in a hostile environment.
"Marines and Sailors have to be 100 percent ready for overseas deployments," said Seaman Jonathan C. Inman, a medical corpsman with the 13 Area Dental Clinic.
"We're helping Marines by making sure they're happy and healthy so they can do what they signed up for," said Inman, 25, from Wilmington, N.C.
Day-in and day-out, military members are on the frontline fighting for their country without hesitation, but when it comes to annual checkups, some seem very nervous.
"Most people fear the dentist because of local anesthetic administration [shots], or they've had a traumatic experience at a dental office," said Gonzalez, 29, from El Paso, Texas.
The 13 Area Dental Clinic has an array of methods to relax patients and minimize the amount of discomfort during their visit. Dentists can provide pills to calm patients down or give medication intravenously so the person is unconscious during the procedure.
When Marines and Sailors are too busy at work to visit the dental clinic, the dental clinic can come to their work to visit them. The 13 Area Clinic has a mobile dental unit that visits service members while they're at work, whether it's at a supply warehouse or the flight line. This service allows military members to receive their periodic or pre-deployment checkups no matter how busy or hectic the work flow is.
The 13 Area Dental Clinic is available to help service members keep smiling despite the location or procedure needed.
| Date Taken: | 06.10.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2009 10:27 |
| Story ID: | 35147 |
| Location: | CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 215 |
| Downloads: | 100 |
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