Defence dentistry: an occupationally focused health service with worldwide deployable capability

Oral disease can cause substantial disruption to service personnel, resulting in debilitation and reduced effectiveness while deployed on military operations. As such, Defence dentistry delivers an occupationally focused dental service that is deployable, agile and holistic, to ensure service personnel are dentally fit for operations and that the impact of dental morbidity is minimised. Defence dentists provide a unique service, balancing the needs of the individual while considering their operational role requirements. This enables the UK Armed Forces' oral health to be optimised by mitigating morbidity and maintaining operational capability while deployed. The aim of this paper is to highlight the key principles of Defence dentistry by discussing the public health values and occupational focus which underpin a patient-centred approach and the agility of the uniformed military dental workforce in providing a responsive and deployable care capability.