The U.S. Army Dental Command, known as DENCOM is a major subordinate command of the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
Medical Command that provides command and control of the Army's fixed-facility dental treatment facilities,
preventive care
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
, dental research, development and training institutions, dental treatment to ensure the oral health and readiness of the force, a trained dental force for worldwide deployment, and structures for evolving missions of the Army.
Structure
DENCOM
headquarters is located at
Fort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas.
"Fort Sam Houston, TX • About Fort Sam Houston" (overview),
US Army, 2007, webpageSH-Army.
Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the U.S. Senator from Texas, U.S. Represen ...
, Texas—also the location of MEDCOM's headquarters. DENCOM is divided into regional dental commands and the Army Dental Laboratory that oversee day-to-day operations in military treatment facilities, exercising command and control over the medical treatment facilities in their regions. Generally, these RDC's geographically overlap with their corresponding regional medical commands. There are five regional commands: Europe Regional Dental Command, Northern Regional Dental Command, Pacific Regional Dental Command, Southern Regional Dental Command, and Western Regional Dental Command.
History
While U.S. Army dentistry dates back to 1872, DENCOM is a relatively recent creation. Provisionally activated on November 1, 1993, it established Army dental service delivery under a dental command with worldwide authority over all TDA dental units. Subordinate to the DENCOM were eight dental service support areas (DSSA). These DSSAs were later reorganized into what are now known as regional dental commands.
See also
*
Douglas Eads Foster, helped set up United States Dental Corps in World War I
External links
Army Dental Command, Fort Sam Houston, TXArmy Medical Department, Fort Sm Houston, TX
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Dental
Military dentistry
Military units and formations established in the 2010s