General Notices: Dentist Comes to Camp by the Staff.

             Given the cessation of active hostilities, members of the unit can have all dental needs looked after from 09:00-15:00 hours at the medical tent. All soldiers, particularly soldiers with persistent dental health problems are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity, as it is unsure when it will occur again in the near future.

             Profile: The Visiting Dentist Offers his Views on Soldiering and Dental Hygiene.

             You'd be surprised how many men who have faced combat are afraid of the dentist. You'd think after shooting men in the jungle and risking death every moment of your life, that walking into a dentist's office would seem like nothing. But sometimes when a solider walks into a dentist's office, he's not a soldier any more. He's like a little kid walking into the office without his mother to give him a lollypop if everything goes well. Sometimes the biggest and most powerful soldiers are the ones who are the most afraid. I think it's because they can't admit they are afraid, even to themselves. If a guy says, "Doc, I'm scared," I can give him something for the pain. Sometimes just telling the truth makes a guy feel better. But when a guy can't tell the truth about his own fears I know he's in trouble and I'm in trouble.

             I've worked under some pretty rough circumstances in my career as a dentist in the armed forces. I have been unable to hear my own drill because of fighter pilots flying overhead. And sometimes I have had to extract teeth without Novocain, just because we had nothing else on hand, except whisky and dope. And soldier's mouths are never pretty, as a rule. When you're out in the field, the last priority on hand is good dental care. Some of these guys come from hick towns that have never seen a dentist. That's another reason guys are afraid of the dentist-just not knowing what is going to happen, the same fear you have when you're hunched up by a plant in the jungle.