CARSON CITY, Nev. - The decay in readiness levels of Army National Guard Soldiers due to dental health is likely be prevented in the near future with an increase in funds that will allow all National Guard Soldiers to receive treatment for their dental problems regardless of alert status, said the National Guard's top dental officer at the Army Readiness Center in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday.
According to Col. Daniel Savitske, the chief dental officer of the Army Guard, a Department of the Army Memorandum signed Feb. 11 by Assistant Secretary of the Army Ronald James is likely to result in $107 million for dental treatment for all Soldiers who are non-deployable due to dental issues. Currently, only Soldiers whose units have been alerted for mobilization are funded for dental treatment.
According to Savitske, a staggering 55 percent of all Army Guardmembers fall into non-deployable readiness status due to dental issues, either because they have not been examined recently or need corrective dental measues.
"The dental readiness issue has been noticed at the highest levels and I think we are finally looking at a true solution," said Savitske, who anticipates the funding for the dental work to arrive in fiscal year 2009 but added treatments could begin sooner. "The memorandum signed in February will allow for treatment for all Guardmembers regardless of their alert status."
Although the memorandum does not specify when funding will begin for Soldiers regardless of alert status, Savitske said the timelines mentioned in the memorandum imply that corrective dental measures must be completed before mobilization.
"The U.S. code states that the secretary of the Army will provide dental care as required to meet dental standards to all servicemembers required for deployment within 75 days of mobilization," Savitske said. "With our new, shorter time at mob station, most National Guardsmen deploy in less than 75 days after reaching the mob station. The memo states that since all of us are expected to have less than 75 days at mob station, all of us are entitled to the care needed to meet the standards."
The $107 million earmarked for dental treatment would represent an increase of about $50 million from the current $50-60 million spent annually on dental exams and treatment during alerts.
"Even though $107 million may sound like a lot of money, it is for more than 330,000 Soldiers, so it isn't a lot per Soldier above what is already spent on just exams and X-rays," Savitske said. "The majority of Soldiers with problems that make them non-deployable can be treated to standard quickly and at low-cost. And many of the fixes are long term, thus reducing the costs over time."
The vast majority of the corrective dental procedures would be contracted out to civilian dentists and clinics. The Army National Guard currently has only 156 dentists in its ranks out of a total of about 350,000 Soldiers.
"We don't have the numbers of dentists nor the clinics for our own dentists to treat our Soldiers," Savitske said. "Our dentists' jobs are supervisory, to oversee the contrators' work."
Savitske said each respective state would determine a process to correct its Soldiers' dental problems and how to spend its allocated dental treatment funds.
"Because National Guard Dental Corps officers can't treat, the treatment will have to be done by others," Savitske said. "Similar methods that have been used successfully to get alerted Soldiers treated can be used outside of alert. Some active-component dental facilities can take our Soldiers on a space-available basis and contracts have been made in the past with dental schools, the Veterans Administration, private contractors to include individual dentists, and IMPACT cards (Government credit card) have been used."
Like most states, the Nevada Army Guard has struggled with a high non-deployability rate caused by dental health. Current statistics show that Nevada's non-deployability rate due to dental issues hovers at about 40 percent.
Nevada National Guard state deputy surgeon Col. (Ret.) Ann Demolski said additional funding to remedy dental issues would be welcomed but would also likely require additional administrative employees at the state level to oversee a wide-open dental treatment program.
"We have been working this issue for years," Demolski said. "If this plan is finalized, it will be a wonderful benefit for our deploying troops.
"A truly viable plan for treatment backed by sufficient funding has been the missing link in the dental-readiness challenge for our Army Guard Soldiers. It has always been a challenge to schedule and complete dental care in the abbreviated window between alert and deployment," Demolski said.