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Shortage of Dentists in the Armed Forces
THE JOURNAL of the AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION L. P i e r c e A n t h o n y , D.D.S., Editor Published by the American D ental Association 222 East Superior St., Chicago, 111. All expressions of opinions and all statem ents of supposed facts are published on the au th o r ity of the w riter over whose signature they appear, and are not to be regarded as expressing the views of the American D ental Association, unless such statem ents or opinions have been adopted by the Association. Communications intended for publication in the scientific o r literary pages of T h e J o u r n a l should be addressed to the Editor. All advertising or business m atter should be sent to the Business M anager. ' • Subscription is included in the annual membership dues. The subscription rate to non-mem bers is $ 5.00 a year in advance, this rate applying to both domestic and foreign subscriptions. All foreign subscriptions are to be paid in U nited States money.
October 1
Editorial Department
1943
SHORTAGE OF DENTISTS IN THE ARMED FORCES T h e shortage of physicians and dentists in the armed forces in the effort to recruit the Army and Navy of the United States to approxi mately eleven million men is becoming increasingly serious as the date agreed upon for the completion of that ambitious program approaches —January 1, 1944. At the present time there are nearly 37,000 physicians enlisted in the commissioned Medical Corps and there are about 17,000 dentists com missioned in the Dental Corps. The Army is provided with dentists at the ratio of one dentist to each 500 enlisted men in the service and it is only a matter of simple arith metic to ascertain that for an army of eleven million men, there should be a corps of 22,000 dentists. To fulfil the dental requirements of the full Army quota, the Procurement and Assignment Committee must furnish more than a thousand dentists each month to the end of the year, and, in the same period, more than six thousand physicians must be procured. Long ago it was anticipated that considerable difficulty would be met Jour. A.D.A., Vol. 30, October 1, 1943
1595
T h e J ournal of
th e
A merican D ental A ssociation
in obtaining ample and full medical and dental service for the Army and, at the same time, avoiding any distressing shortage of medical and dental service to the civilian population. We are all .quite conscious of our professional obligations to the armed forces; on the other hand, we have a definite and binding obligation to the civilian population. A year or more ago the Government realized that an inordinate demand would be created by the requirements for medical service to the Army and to the civilian population, and accordingly established the Procurement and Assignment Committee as an aid to the medical and dental pro fessions in meeting these demands. The Procurement and Assignment Committee has functioned admirably in solving the problem until within the past few months, when the crest of physician and dentist supply seems to have been reached. In an effort to stimulate more favorable responses from the available sources, the Committee ha? adopted various means, among them increase in the age limit for volunteer service. It appears, however, that appeal to patriotism has reached its saturation point of production, and it is evident that more drastic measures will have to be adopted if the Army is to obtain its quota of physicians and dentists. And, incidentally, there is no other thought in the minds of those conducting the war program than to complete the program in full and on time. Confining our consideration strictly to the Dental Corps, it seems that there are many in the profession within the age limits who have not yet signified their intention or desire to volunteer for commissioned den tal service. The procedure of the Procurement and Assignment Com mittee has been a most considerate one for dentistry, as have been prac tically all contacts of the army authorities with our profession. The Procurement arid Assignment Committee has ascertained, through its established channels, the dentists who are eligible for the Dental Corps under the present age limits, and has invited these men to accept com missioned officer status in the Corps. We learn, however, that such invi tations are not accepted in every case. In fact, about one out of every four dentists so invited has not responded in any way, which in its cumulative result leaves a shortage in the Dental Corps of several thousands. We realize that the order for dental service in the armed forces is a large one and that it will severely tax the manpower resources of den tistry, but this demand must be met. We are at war, and every other consideration—family, business, self—becomes secondary to the war
E ditorial D epartment
1597
effort. The men who have been drafted into combat service and who are making a ‘magnificent fight for freedom— all four freedoms— were not invited to accept commissions as a preferred group. They were arbitrarily drafted into the service and gave up practically everything that was near and dear to them, with no such promise of reward as comes to those who are invited to accept commissions for rendering a specialized health service. The Procurement and Assignment Committee has been lenient in deed in its indulgence toward those who have not responded to the various calls. It has not asked for nor has it been given police power to enforce compliance with its requests, but the indications are becoming stronger and stronger that pressure will be brought to bear upon both the medical and dental professions to accept these invitations to render specialized health service on a particularly favorable plane. In that event, we are fearful that those who are eligible for service and refuse will be reclassified and drafted into regular army line service. That is the alternative that the profession has strenuously endeavored to avoid from the beginning of the war program. All signs point to the abandon ment of the temporizing methods in an endeavor to accomplish an all out war effort. It seems that these same difficulties of volunteer service are being experienced also in the war industries, and ways and means are being considered to place the impelling and compelling power of service to government on a more dependable basis than that of patriotism. The main difficulty seems to be that we are trying to fight a total war with voluntary control of the nation’s manpower. In the desire to avoid compulsory measures, with all of the apparent discrepancies and injustices attendant thereon, we trust that every dentist who is within the professional and age specifications for dental health service in the Army will immediately offer his services to the Government in a patri otic spirit of cooperation, to the end that Dentistry may acquit itself in a manner befitting its ambitions and traditions as a health service to humanity.
October 1
Editorial Department
1943
SHORTAGE OF DENTISTS IN THE ARMED FORCES T h e shortage of physicians and dentists in the armed forces in the effort to recruit the Army and Navy of the United States to approxi mately eleven million men is becoming increasingly serious as the date agreed upon for the completion of that ambitious program approaches —January 1, 1944. At the present time there are nearly 37,000 physicians enlisted in the commissioned Medical Corps and there are about 17,000 dentists com missioned in the Dental Corps. The Army is provided with dentists at the ratio of one dentist to each 500 enlisted men in the service and it is only a matter of simple arith metic to ascertain that for an army of eleven million men, there should be a corps of 22,000 dentists. To fulfil the dental requirements of the full Army quota, the Procurement and Assignment Committee must furnish more than a thousand dentists each month to the end of the year, and, in the same period, more than six thousand physicians must be procured. Long ago it was anticipated that considerable difficulty would be met Jour. A.D.A., Vol. 30, October 1, 1943
1595
T h e J ournal of
th e
A merican D ental A ssociation
in obtaining ample and full medical and dental service for the Army and, at the same time, avoiding any distressing shortage of medical and dental service to the civilian population. We are all .quite conscious of our professional obligations to the armed forces; on the other hand, we have a definite and binding obligation to the civilian population. A year or more ago the Government realized that an inordinate demand would be created by the requirements for medical service to the Army and to the civilian population, and accordingly established the Procurement and Assignment Committee as an aid to the medical and dental pro fessions in meeting these demands. The Procurement and Assignment Committee has functioned admirably in solving the problem until within the past few months, when the crest of physician and dentist supply seems to have been reached. In an effort to stimulate more favorable responses from the available sources, the Committee ha? adopted various means, among them increase in the age limit for volunteer service. It appears, however, that appeal to patriotism has reached its saturation point of production, and it is evident that more drastic measures will have to be adopted if the Army is to obtain its quota of physicians and dentists. And, incidentally, there is no other thought in the minds of those conducting the war program than to complete the program in full and on time. Confining our consideration strictly to the Dental Corps, it seems that there are many in the profession within the age limits who have not yet signified their intention or desire to volunteer for commissioned den tal service. The procedure of the Procurement and Assignment Com mittee has been a most considerate one for dentistry, as have been prac tically all contacts of the army authorities with our profession. The Procurement arid Assignment Committee has ascertained, through its established channels, the dentists who are eligible for the Dental Corps under the present age limits, and has invited these men to accept com missioned officer status in the Corps. We learn, however, that such invi tations are not accepted in every case. In fact, about one out of every four dentists so invited has not responded in any way, which in its cumulative result leaves a shortage in the Dental Corps of several thousands. We realize that the order for dental service in the armed forces is a large one and that it will severely tax the manpower resources of den tistry, but this demand must be met. We are at war, and every other consideration—family, business, self—becomes secondary to the war
E ditorial D epartment
1597
effort. The men who have been drafted into combat service and who are making a ‘magnificent fight for freedom— all four freedoms— were not invited to accept commissions as a preferred group. They were arbitrarily drafted into the service and gave up practically everything that was near and dear to them, with no such promise of reward as comes to those who are invited to accept commissions for rendering a specialized health service. The Procurement and Assignment Committee has been lenient in deed in its indulgence toward those who have not responded to the various calls. It has not asked for nor has it been given police power to enforce compliance with its requests, but the indications are becoming stronger and stronger that pressure will be brought to bear upon both the medical and dental professions to accept these invitations to render specialized health service on a particularly favorable plane. In that event, we are fearful that those who are eligible for service and refuse will be reclassified and drafted into regular army line service. That is the alternative that the profession has strenuously endeavored to avoid from the beginning of the war program. All signs point to the abandon ment of the temporizing methods in an endeavor to accomplish an all out war effort. It seems that these same difficulties of volunteer service are being experienced also in the war industries, and ways and means are being considered to place the impelling and compelling power of service to government on a more dependable basis than that of patriotism. The main difficulty seems to be that we are trying to fight a total war with voluntary control of the nation’s manpower. In the desire to avoid compulsory measures, with all of the apparent discrepancies and injustices attendant thereon, we trust that every dentist who is within the professional and age specifications for dental health service in the Army will immediately offer his services to the Government in a patri otic spirit of cooperation, to the end that Dentistry may acquit itself in a manner befitting its ambitions and traditions as a health service to humanity.