Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Jennifer Benedict | A slice of 113 years… Capt. Molly Jenkins, Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command...... read more read more
When the U.S. Navy Dental Corps was officially birthed, August 22, 1912, Sailors were drilled that individual oral health was crucial in putting their bite in the fight for operational readiness.
In acknowledging that founding, the 113th birthday theme, “The Roots of Readiness: Setting the Foundation for the Navy Dental Corps,” harkens back to their origin.
“Our Dental Corps is not just drilling and filling. Throughout of history we’ve served on ships, shore and the front lines caring for our Sailors and Marines,” said Capt. Molly Jenkins, Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command Bremerton executive officer and Dental Corps officer.
Jenkins noted the legacy of the Dental Corps officers is exemplified by those who have gone above and beyond to render care to those in need throughout their history. Just six years after President Taft signed a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to appoint “not more than 30 acting assistant dental surgeons,” at the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918, Lt. j.g. Weedon Osborne was a Medal of Honor recipient – posthumously - in rescuing wounded Marines from the field of battle.
“Lt. Gilbert Bigelow and Lt. James Ware were instrumental in providing emergency medical care to wounded at the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983. As the only medical officers there, their heroic efforts were huge in the aftermath of that attack,” stated Jenkins, a post 9/11 Dental Corps officer of 23 years. “I came in [the Navy] because of 9/11 to serve.”
Jenkins’ career is a microcosm of the Navy Dental Corps commitment to operational readiness. She has served onboard nuclear aircraft carriers, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN 69), deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at Expeditionary Medical Facility, Kuwait and gone down range into Helmond Province, Afghanistan, in direct support of combat operations during Operation Enduring Freedom.
“Even though it might seem like a small area of the body that we concentrate on, if there’s any type of dental problem, it can affect our entire demeanor. Oral health impacts everything from eating to sleeping,” explained Jenkins, citing compiled evidence that dental problems accounted for almost half of medical evacuations during the Vietnam War.
“Dental priorities were such a problem that significantly affected mission readiness back then. We’ve advanced much. Our treatment efforts today are reflected by high dental readiness numbers,” Jenkins said.
The command’s Operational Dental Readiness for the end of 2024 was 95 percent. That high ODR percentile indicates a strong commitment to oral health and operational readiness. The basic foundation of oral health - preventing cavities and stressing the need to brush and floss regularly – directly bolsters Operational Dental Readiness. The Navy’s dental readiness classification system is a viable measurement of every command’s ODR.
“Dental classification is critical as a diagnostic tool,” said Cmdr. Diane Vo, Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command Bremerton chief dental officer. “It allows us to evaluate or anticipate dental issues to prioritize need. This directly contributes to success downrange so that our Sailors can stay engaged in the fight and mitigates unexpected dental issues.”
Class I: A patient is good to go with no dental treatment expected in a year.
Class II: A patient may need minor or elective treatment
such as a dental cleaning or a small filling.
Class III: A patient has some sort of active dental disease, such as a cavity and the decayed part of the tooth must be removed and filled, or it could get much worse within a year.
Class IV: A patient hasn’t had a dental exam within the year.
As was the case then, the same holds true today as Dental Corps officers assigned to NMRTC Bremerton continue to maintain high operational readiness standards, one appointment at a time.
The Branch Health Clinic Bangor Dental Clinic is the hub for providing a full scope of dental services to many active duty personnel in the region stationed at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor and handled a workload of more than 27,200 patient encounters in 2024, ensuring dental readiness for Navy and Marine Corps fleet assets from approximately 120 commands. Dental services provided included general and comprehensive dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral maxillofacial radiology, endodontics, prosthodontics, and dental hygiene.
The command’s Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery clinic handled 2,570 dental exams and procedures in 2024.
Branch Health Clinic Everett Dental Clinic conducted 8,100 appointments in 2024. They also coordinated 83 dental rodeos – a streamlined process to efficiently handle a number of patients - for attached ships in order to maintain deployability and they supported dental needs for the homeport shift of the guided missile cruiser USS Chosin (CG 65), along with increased Operational Dental Readiness from 83 percent to 93 percent for eight attached ships and 26 tenant commands on Naval Station Everett.
Navy Medicine’s approximately 1,400 active duty and reserve dentists are accomplished in 15 specialties which include such disciplines as comprehensive dentistry, dental and biomedical research, dental public health, endodontics, forensic odontology, maxillofacial prosthetics, operative dentistry, oral and maxillofacial pathology, oral medicine and radiology, orofacial pain, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery and prosthodontics.
The Dental Corps officers are also assisted by Hospital Corps Sailors with specialty training as dental assistant and dental hygienist where they perform basic duties such as dental infection control, dental treatment room management, preventive dentistry, comprehensive dental assisting, and intraoral radiography.
Jenkins does insist that Dental Corps officers are just as adept in imparting wisdom as they are in handling debilitating dental problems.
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.22.2025 13:03 |
| Story ID: | 546265 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 148 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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