title: Navy Dental Corps: ninety years ... and forward.
abstract: The Navy Dental Corps is responsible for ensuring the readiness of America's sailors and marines and optimizing their oral health. This article traces the history from the 1912 Act of Congress authorizing thirty "assistant dental surgeons" as the first Navy Dental Corps through service around the world. Navy dentists have seen service in every war and action in the past ninety years, reaching a peak of seven thousand officers and eleven thousand technicians in World War II. The Navy Dental Corps has served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Beirut, Somalia, Haiti, 9/11, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
authors.affiliation: Navy Dental Corps, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Woofter
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kvaska
authors.forename: Carol I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.forename: Andre B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Sobocinski
mesh_terms: D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008885:Military Dentistry / Q000266:history*; D009326:Naval Medicine / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States; D037041:United States Government Agencies