Following the post-World War I drawdown, the Dental Corps established the Naval Dental School in 1923. It initiated the study and treatment protocols for preventative dental care, a revolutionary concept at the time. The Naval Dental School and its various research offshoots have gone on to make numerous invaluable contributions in dental treatment and care.

The school’s researchers, led by Capt. William Ferguson, who after his discharge would spearhead standardization of dental school curricula and help found the American Academy of Operative Dentistry, pioneered air driven and ultrasonic vibrating hand instruments that are the standard today, and creative approaches for four-handed dentistry. Its research also led the Dental Corps to be the first to recommend the fluoridation of water supplies to prevent cavities. The school also developed breakthrough 3-D imaging technology that allows for sophisticated maxillofacial reconstruction to exactly match original anatomy.

The Dental Corps’ ranks reached their highest level ever during the war, ultimately 7,000 dental officers and 11,000 dental technicians.

When Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, military casualties included two Navy dentists killed – one aboard the USS Oklahoma and another aboard the USS Arizona – and four wounded. The Dental Corps’ ranks reached their highest level ever during the war, ultimately 7,000 dental officers and 11,000 dental technicians. Recognizing a need to expand their skills, Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Ross T. McIntire ordered all dental officers to become proficient in treating casualties and assisting with emergency medical duties as well. The Dental Corps achieved two firsts in the war. In 1944, Lt. Sara Gdulin Krout became the first female Navy dentist, and Lt. Thomas Watkins, Jr., became the first African-American naval dentist. Dental Corps personnel served in every theater, and 93 dental officers received decorations, including the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and the Bronze Star.

Rear Adm. Vernon Anderson, whose service began as a Naval Reserve officer in 1940, had arguably the most extensive career of anyone in the Dental Corps. It spanned 33 years and three wars (World War II, Korea, and Vietnam). His decorations include the Legion of Merit with Gold Star “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services.” Anderson was also the first naval dental officer to spend most of his career (20 years) attached to the Marine Corps.

During World War II he served on the USS Wasp (CV 7) when she made her two aircraft ferrying runs to Malta, and survived the Japanese submarine attack that sank the carrier in September 1942. In the Korean War, he served on the repair ship USS Jason, responsible for dental care of destroyer personnel of the Seventh Fleet.

Following that, he was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa as its force dental officer. He participated in Exercise Blue Star, a weeklong amphibious exercise off the southern coast of Formosa in 1960. It tested for the first time the deployment of a dental company as part of an amphibious assault, resulting in a rewriting of doctrine regarding deployment of dental companies in amphibious operations.

Anderson noted that the workload of naval dental officers stationed in Vietnam was significantly greater than those stationed elsewhere, particularly in the latter part of the war when they were involved in training South Vietnamese dentists as part of the “Vietnamization” program.

In 1963, Anderson was appointed force dental officer of Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic. Three years later he was appointed force dental officer of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, responsible for dental companies stationed in Vietnam. Under his watch, the new mobile Encore high-speed electric dental drills were utilized for the first time. Anderson also initiated a factory-trained repair program of the Encore drills for naval personnel scheduled for deployment in Vietnam, resulting in a significant saving in downtime and cost.

In a 1986 interview for the Marine Corps Oral History Program, Anderson noted that the workload of naval dental officers stationed in Vietnam was significantly greater than those stationed elsewhere, particularly in the latter part of the war when they were involved in training South Vietnamese dentists as part of the “Vietnamization” program. Dental officers were also heavily involved in civil action service. In addition to providing basic dental care and preventative instruction, Dental Corps oral surgeons performed countless cosmetic surgeries on children suffering from cleft lips and palates. He was especially proud of the oral surgeons for the work that saved these children from lives of ostracism.

Anderson felt his success attached to various Marine units opened the door for other dental officers who feared their careers would be sidetracked if they spent too much time away from the Navy. When Anderson was selected rear admiral, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Leonard F. Chapman, Jr., was among the first to telephone and congratulate him. “Well, you Marines did it!” Anderson replied.

When it comes to pranks, it would be hard to top the one pulled by naval dentists George Foster and Jack Mallory, a prank that became internationally famous – or infamous, depending on the point of view. In post-World War II Japan, they were serving in the 361st Station Hospital in Tokyo. Foster was head dental surgeon for Sugamo Prison, where senior Japanese leaders, including Gen. Hideki Tojo, were being held pending their war crimes trials.

Military procedure calls for the individual’s name, rank, and serial number to be engraved on a recipient’s dental appliances. Hospital staffers urged Foster and Mallory to include the phrase, “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Initially reluctant, the two later agreed, engraving the phrase in Morse code.

In late 1946, he was ordered to examine Tojo’s teeth. Foster discovered Tojo to be in abysmal dental health, with many teeth missing or requiring extraction. Foster recommended a complete set of dentures. Tojo demurred, stating that it would be a waste of time, since he fully expected to be executed. Eventually Tojo agreed to have an upper plate constructed. Mallory was given the assignment to make it.

Military procedure calls for the individual’s name, rank, and serial number to be engraved on a recipient’s dental appliances. Hospital staffers urged Foster and Mallory to include the phrase, “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Initially reluctant, the two later agreed, engraving the phrase in Morse code.

As might be expected, word got out. A letter by an associate to relatives in Texas recounting the prank snowballed, with wire services picking up on the story and printing it in newspapers across the country. When WVTR, the armed forces radio station in Tokyo, ran the story, Foster and Mallory knew they’d be in hot water. Using the excuse that the plate needed cleaning, they obtained it and ground out the message before the prison’s commanding officer could accost them.

Mementoes from that prank, including the bridge mold, are now on display at the Navy Dental Corps Historical Museum in Bethesda.

A total of 1,900 dental officers and 4,700 technicians served in the Korean War. The Korean War saw for the first time naval enlisted men with dental rating badges participating in combat. Dentalman Thomas A. Christensen, Jr. was one of them.

A Philadelphia native, Christensen entered the Navy in April 1950. A month later, the new dentalman was deployed to Korea, attached to the 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 1st Marine Division. On Nov. 6, 1950, he was serving as a corpsman with a railroad train guard when a strong enemy force ambushed the train near Kowan, North Korea. Though wounded himself, he continued to treat others until finally killed by enemy fire. Posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart, his Navy Cross citation reads in part, “With absolute disregard for his own personal safety, he fearlessly exposed himself to enemy fire to treat wounded Marines and move them to positions of cover. When the enemy attacked the train the second time, he was mortally wounded by enemy fire and gallantly gave his life for his country.”

“With absolute disregard for his own personal safety, he fearlessly exposed himself to enemy fire to treat wounded Marines and move them to positions of cover. When the enemy attacked the train the second time, he was mortally wounded by enemy fire and gallantly gave his life for his country.”

His memory is honored by the Dentalman Thomas A. Christensen, Jr. Memorial Award, presented annually by the Marine Corps Association to an outstanding corpsman of enlisted rank in performance of his duty while attached to a Fleet Marine Force.

When the 1960s began, the Dental Corps operated from 160 shore-based facilities and aboard 156 ships. Innovative field support doctrine was developed for the Marine Corps that included mobile dental unit trailers with advanced rotary instruments such as the aforementioned Encore dental drill and field X-ray and developing facilities. These new units more than proved their worth during the Vietnam War. At its peak, about one-fifth of the Dental Corps, 420 officers and 790 dental technicians, served in Vietnam.

When Lebanon erupted in civil war chaos in the early 1980s, a Multinational Force including the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit was dispatched to help stabilize the situation. On Oct. 23, 1983, two terrorist-driven truck bombs smashed their way into the Multinational Force compound at the Beirut airport and exploded, killing 299 French and U.S. Marine Corps and Navy personnel, and injuring scores of others. Among the dead were the only on-scene Navy physician and 18 Navy corpsmen. Dental officers Lt. Gilbert Bigelow and Lt. James Ware were among the survivors. They led 15 surviving corpsmen in conducting triage in the first two hours after the blasts. Bigelow and Ware received Bronze Stars for their actions that day, and both eventually retired with the rank of captain.

Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-91) was the largest naval operation since World War II. It involved 115 U.S. Navy ships, including six carrier battle groups, two battleships, two Marine Expeditionary Forces, and escorts and support vessels. Shipboard Navy Dental Corps personnel comprised 199 dental officers and 550 dental technicians serving on the hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort and 22 combat/combat support ships. Attached to Marine Corps units were 80 dental officers and 120 dental technicians. Over the course of the campaign, they treated 2,450 emergency patients, including personnel from all branches as well as from allied forces.

On a lighter note, sometimes a naval dental officer looks forward to entering the spotlight. While a beautiful smile is a sign of good dental health, in Lt. Corinne Devin’s case it’s also a winning one, helping her achieve recognition somewhat outside of the typical experiences of a naval officer. Devin, department head, dental clinic, U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, is also 2012 Miss United States. A fourth-generation member of the military, Devin’s father was also a Navy dentist, serving 20 years in the service. Devin has a master’s degree in science and orthodontics from the Tri-Service Orthodontics Residency Program at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Devin’s postings included assignment to Combat Logistics Battalion-7, in Al Asad, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Rear Adm. Elaine C. Wagner is the 36th chief of the Navy Dental Corps. She is also the commander of Navy Medicine East and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Her decorations include the Legion of Merit with Gold Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and numerous other decorations. A graduate of Indiana University School of Dentistry, Wagner has served more than 29 years in the Navy at bases throughout the country.

While a beautiful smile is a sign of good dental health, in Lt. Corinne Devin’s case it’s also a winning one, helping her achieve recognition somewhat outside of the typical experiences of a naval officer. Devin, department head, dental clinic, U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, is also 2012 Miss United States.

Proud of the men and women under her command and their accomplishments, Wagner said that as impressive as its past has been, the Dental Corps “continuously strives to improve on all fronts.” In a message celebrating the Dental Corps’ centennial, she wrote, “Proud in uniform, outstanding in performance, and dedicated to provide the best for our sailors and Marines” the Navy Dental Corps is looking forward to “sprinting into the next century.”

This article first appeared in the The Year in Veterans Affairs & Military Medicine 2013-2014 Edition