Royal Australian Navy Dental Branch Feature Article
The RAN Dental Branch – A Bite of History Lieutenant Shannon Godfrey, RAN, BDSc
The first recorded ‘official’ dental services in the Royal Australian Navy took place during WWI in a makeshift dockside surgery at Garden Island, on the decommissioned HMAS PIONEER. However, it was not until 1st July 1918 that orders were promulgated authorising the establishment of a permanent Royal Australian Navy Dental Branch. Since that time the Branch has evolved to become a significant and essential component of the Navy, characterised by innovative technologies, highly trained clinicians, and both sea and shore-based dental teams. The importance of dental services in the Navy is best described by the newly approved branch motto - ‘Fit to Bite, Fit to Fight’. The commissioning of the first uniformed Dental Officer in the RAN – Surgeon Lieutenant (D) Milton Spencer Atwill – occurred on 2nd July 1918 and he immediately boarded the battle cruiser HMAS AUSTRALIA, then operating with the RN in England. The primary role of the dental officer, then as now, was to minimise oral disease or trauma impeding the duties of naval personnel. The following year saw HMAS AUSTRALIA take the first dental mechanic to sea. And in 1921, when AUSTRALIA was placed into Reserve, Surgeon Lieutenant (D) Henry A. Lambert took post at HMAS CERBERUS as the first uniformed Dental Officer on an RAN Shore Establishment.
Summary Points: The RAN Dental Branch was established on 1st July 1918. Expansion of the Branch occurred due to poor levels of dental fitness on entry and lack of access to dental care at isolated land establishments and at sea, resulting in dental officers ashore and dental teams at sea with mobile equipment. The greatest needs during WWII were extractions and prosthetic services with training taking place at Flinders Naval Depot and Balmoral Hospital. In addition to seagoing dentistry, the dental officer’s role has expanded to include health administration; training in decontamination of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) casualties; basic maxillofacial skills; resuscitation; and forensic identification training. The Branch continues to provide dental services to reduce the impact of dental disease on the fighting capabilities of the Australian Defence Force and to maintain all personnel at a level of dental fitness compatible with combat readiness.
until the Sick Berth Attendant (Dental) category was established during WWII. Training of dental attendants was undertaken at Flinders Naval Depot at HMAS CERBERUS from 1939 and has remained there to the present day.
Surgeon Lieutenant (Dentist) Milton Atwill at sea in HMAS AUSTRALIA (1) during World War 1. Prior to this, civilian and Army dentists had been relied upon for the provision of dental services. In addition, medical officers would offer treatments of extractions or simple fillings. The Navy Medical Department supplied assistants for the Dental Officers
WWII was a period which saw continued and rapid expansion of the Branch. However, the increase in the size of the Navy to 39,000 personnel and the simultaneous lowering of dental entry standards to meet conscription targets, resulted in an arduous work load for the Navy’s Dental Officers. The treatment of an increasing number of poor dentitions was made even more complicated, due to the sailors’ long periods of service at sea and the wide geographic spread of personnel across 580 ships and establishments around the globe. The rapid growth of the Navy at the outbreak of war could not be met by a similar surge in recruitment of Dental Officers, particularly since proposals put forth before the war for a reserve dental branch had been rejected. The nine permanent officers comprising the Naval Dental Branch at the outbreak of war
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CADMUS 2009