Organization of the Navy Dental Corps.

The US Navy Dental Corps was established by an act of Congress in 1912. Its membership consists of dental officers of the Regular Navy and Naval Reserve. The primary mission of the Corps is to prevent or remedy dental conditions that may interfere with the performance of duty by members of the active naval forces. The organizational structure within which the Dental Corps functions is discussed at some length. The Chief of the Dental Corps, under the Surgeon General, is responsible for the planning and direction of programs providing dental care to Navy and Marine Corps personnel and others authorized by law. Until recently, the majority of dental personnel received only technical assistance control from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; but in consonance with the goals of improving management effectiveness and achieving efficient use of personnel and material resources, the Navy Dental Corps has undertaken a program of regionalization of its facilities. The establishment of regional dental centers under one command permits immediate response to the needs of populations and the activities they serve, while at the same time reducing layering of administrative and fiscal burdens of existing dental departments at various commands, which allows more dental officers to devote their time to dental health care delivery.