Army dentists say war games omit dental emergencies that could strain wartime casualty evacuation.
Broken equipment and limited supplies can hinder field dental training opportunities.
Forward dental teams can treat patients quickly and return them to duty.
A painful toothache or an oral infection might not sound like an injury that could sideline a soldier in combat, but US Army dental leaders warn that in a future conflict, such easily overlooked conditions could take troops out of the fight, consume scarce evacuation capacity, and further stress a strained medical system.
Most of the Army's major exercises don't include dental emergencies in their casualty scenarios, dentists said in a recent professional article, leaving commanders with an incomplete picture of the medical and triage or evacuation demands they could face in large-scale combat.
#evacuation #army #casualty #combat
Broken equipment and limited supplies can hinder field dental training opportunities.
Forward dental teams can treat patients quickly and return them to duty.
A painful toothache or an oral infection might not sound like an injury that could sideline a soldier in combat, but US Army dental leaders warn that in a future conflict, such easily overlooked conditions could take troops out of the fight, consume scarce evacuation capacity, and further stress a strained medical system.
Most of the Army's major exercises don't include dental emergencies in their casualty scenarios, dentists said in a recent professional article, leaving commanders with an incomplete picture of the medical and triage or evacuation demands they could face in large-scale combat.
#evacuation #army #casualty #combat
2 months ago
