Photo By Seaman Elijah Webb | QUERE, Vanuatu (Nov. 12) – Capt. Mark B. Stefanik, mission commander of Pacific...... read more read more
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WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN– The Pacific Partnership 2025 dental team conducted dental readiness exams aboard the expeditionary sea base USS John L. Canley (ESB 6), Nov. 5–6, ensuring Canley Sailors remain medically ready while deployed across the Indo-Pacific.
John L. Canley has a blue and gold crew of Sailors that rotate every four months, depending on the mission. The gold crew has the helm while Pacific Partnership is onboard, and dental readiness requirements need to be classified correctly for their next deployment mission.
“The goal is to get Sailors on the Canley in the correct dental class to be fit for sea,” said Lt. Kelly Ganzen, PP25 Dental Officer. “Without a dentist on board, they would have to wait until returning to homeport, which can lead to delays in treatment or cause them to appear on readiness hit lists as overdue. Conducting these exams underway helps ensure they’re fully deployable and reduces the workload on their shore commands later.”
Aboard John L. Canley, Ganzen and her team performed exams using portable handheld dental X-ray devices known as Nomad units. These lightweight units replace traditional, bulky radiography equipment and make it possible to take high-quality images anywhere on the ship.
Hospital Corpsman 1st Class John Pascual and Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Kevin Carranza, both assigned to the PP25 dental team, demonstrated the equipment during the exams.
“If I could describe the Nomad unit in one word, it would be ‘versatile,’ because it didn't matter the environment we were in, the X-rays were effective,” said Carranza.
The portable systems allow the dental staff to perform diagnostics efficiently and safely in the ship’s limited workspace.
“The Nomad unit makes a huge difference in how we operate,” said Pascual. “It’s fast, accurate, and gives us the flexibility to deliver care wherever it’s needed, whether underway or ashore during mission stops.”
Beyond shipboard readiness, the PP25 dental team has supported clinical operations throughout the region during Pacific Partnership 2025. During mission stops in Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, and Vanuatu, the dental team provided a range of preventative and restorative care services.
“During our Pacific Partnership port calls, we’re providing basic oral hygiene instruction as well as performing extractions, restorations, screenings, and fluoride applications,” said Ganzen. “We were even able to perform root canals in Palau and Samoa.”
In addition to providing care, the PP25 dental team emphasized collaboration with partner nation and host nation dental professionals.
“The hope is that from both the partner nations and host nations, we can all learn from each other,” Ganzen explained. “We all speak the same dental language, but each of us has different techniques and tricks to share. That exchange of knowledge is what makes missions like Pacific Partnership so meaningful.”
Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission in the Indo-Pacific. The mission unites host and partner nations, nongovernmental organizations, and military personnel to strengthen regional response capabilities, enhance medical readiness, and promote enduring relationships through cooperation and shared experience.
For more information about Pacific Partnership 2025, visit https://www.clwp.navy.mil/Pacific-Partnership/.
| Date Taken: | 11.05.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.13.2025 01:07 |
| Story ID: | 550970 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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