Army Dental Corps Marks Centenary
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- Published: Monday, 13 September 2021 07:56
- Written by Chris Tapper
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The Royal Army Dental Corps is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
To mark the centenary of the formation of the RADC, the Duchess of Gloucester has unveiled a memorial stone at the National Memorial Arboretum, in Alrewas, Staffordshire.
The Royal Family announced the ceremony on their Twitter account.
As part of a special dedication service, The Duchess of Gloucester unveiled a new memorial stone @Nat_Mem_Arb.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 9, 2021
The stone is a tribute to those who have served in the Royal Army Dental Corps since its formation in 1921. pic.twitter.com/LmIbvWs8MT
The RADC was formed in January 1921. It currently has around 80 serving dental surgeons.
The RADC currently provides dental care to the British Army both in barracks and on deployment, where dental officers deliver care in temporary facilities.
Most of the careers of dental officers are spent providing primary dental care in integrated primary dental care facilities to military patients and their families, when overseas.
Nicholas Gibbs and Kate Porter wrote in the British Dental Journal in April, “As the COVID-19 pandemic struck, RADC dentists and nurses were part of the British military’s response by providing emergency dental care and supporting the NHS. Continuous dental emergency care was provided through regional defence primary healthcare (DPHC) hubs and we were treating deploying personnel throughout the pandemic.”
“Selected RADC officers supported the military aid to the civil authorities as planners for the Nightingale hospitals, by acting as liaison staff with the NHS and developing the wider Army medical strategy for coping with the pandemic. Some RADC dental nurses completed training to allow them to assist on military COVID-19 bedding down facilities, increasing the capacity of the Army to cope with local outbreaks.”
“In August 1914 facilities for dental treatment in the army were negligible, no provision had been made for treatment in the field and not one dental surgeon accompanied the expeditionary force to France,” the Museum of Military Medicine said.
“In October 1914, during the Battle of the Aisne, the Commander of the First Army suffered severe toothache and found that no British dentist was available to give him treatment.” Mostbet — международный онлайн-букмекер, в Узбекистане ставки принимаются с 2009 года. мостбет Нужно только выбрать валюту и социальную сеть, затем подтвердить разрешение на чтение данных и использование их как регистрационных
“A request was made to the War Office that dental surgeons were to serve in the army areas and 12 were sent to France in November with temporary commissions in the RAMC. Despite these and later commissions of dental surgeons, almost all treatment for soldiers in the UK was carried out by civilian practitioners, many of whom were not properly qualified.”
“Initially dental officers on the Western Front were allocated one to each Casualty Clearing Station, although they had no facilities for mechanical repair of artificial dentures and men were still evacuated to back to base. In May 1916 a motor dental laboratory was presented to the army and was such a success that eventually each of the five armies in France had one enabling greater facilities over a wider area.”
“The wastage of fit soldiers through lack of proper dental care during World War I highlighted the need for formal organisation and proper provision and the Army Dental Corps was formed on 4th January 1921.”
“Dental Surgeons were initially granted a Short Service Commission of six years with the opportunity for selection to a permanent commission whilst servicemen joined for an initial engagement of seven years and went to the Army Dental Corps School of Instruction in Aldershot to train as Dental Mechanics or Dental Clerk Orderlies.”
The British Army website says “The Army is supported on operations by uniformed dental teams that are trained to the required military standards to work alongside their colleagues. It provides and maintains a high level of dental fitness, reducing the number of dental problems experienced by soldiers on the front line.”
“The Army recruits qualified dentists and dental nurses as well as dental students and unqualified applicants wishing to train as dental nurses.”
“The Army’s chief dental officer, Colonel Tim Davies, said the pandemic had shown the ability of personnel to adapt to challenges,” Lichfield Live wrote.
“Covid-19 has had a dramatic effect on UK dentistry and in many ways initially it came to a halt. However, it didn’t come to a halt with military dentistry because although we were initially restricted by the availability of PPE, we endeavoured to ensure our military personnel deploying on operations were as dentally fit as possible.”
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