Provision of dental care in the military medical service of the armed forces of the Russian Federation during a military operation

This article analyzes the scope of services provided by a dentist within the military medical service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during a modern armed conflict. The study included two stages: a prospective stage involving patient care (preventive oral cavity examinations in citizens mobilized for military service) and a retrospective analysis of dental care provided by the military medical service during a military operation (data from preventive examinations, oral sanitation plans for armed forces personnel, and reports from senior dentists of military districts). It has been established that the need for oral sanitation among career military personnel averages 72% and reaches up to 81% among volunteers and citizens mobilized for military service, increasing the workload for both military and hospital dentists. On average, 85.4% of armed forces personnel require outpatient dental care, with each individual having an average of 5.6 teeth requiring treatment: 3.8 for caries, 0.8 needing endodontic treatment, 1 tooth requiring extraction, and 7.4 teeth needing restoration among those requiring prosthetics. It was noted that the critical factors were the nature of combat operations, the workload of medical evacuation stages, and the availability of various resources in the regimental aid station or the medical company of a brigade. These factors often hinder the full deployment of dental equipment and the ability to provide treatment for oral disorders, both on an elective and emergency basis. Satisfactory conditions for this type of medical care are achievable only in a dental office within a separate medical battalion or a special task medical detachment. To improve the provision of dental care to armed forces personnel by the military medical service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during a military operation, the authors propose the following. Dental offices should be equipped with portable turbine dental units, which have proven to be highly effective in real combat conditions, and with portable dental X-ray machines to significantly improve the quality of diagnostics and treatment of dental disorders. In addition, given the challenges of restocking medical consumables, dentists should ensure their timely requisition and monitoring their receipt, since only 36.6% of medical units are equipped with standard dental consumables, necessitating urgent measures to establish a stable supply system.