MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Marines and Sailors can sink their teeth into a new way of seeing a dentist here.
A new base dental annex, dedicated today by Brig. Gen. Steven Hummer, commanding general, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, offers another option for service members needing a checkup.
“The annex is really a Band-Aid,” said Navy Capt. Gregory Kvaska, officer-in-charge and company commander, 21st Dental Company. “It isn’t a final solution. The only way to meet our needs is to build a new facility that’s the right size, but that solution is 10 years away. We needed something right now.”
Opened June 4 for trial runs, the new facility supports general exams, patient X-rays, and its staffers can make recommendations for specialty work. Marines and Sailors will still need to go to the main dental clinic for oral surgery or fitting crowns.
“It’s a centralized location for our biggest customer,” said Chief Petty Officer Eugenio Miranda, administration supervisor, 21st Dental Company. “They won’t have to walk from their place to the dental clinic.”
Located near Anderson Hall in Building 4028, the annex is a 15-minute walk for Marines living in nearby barracks. Kvaska said the annex is meant to be “high speed, low glide” as a convenient place for service members to be treated.
The annex operates in a space owned by the Corps. The Navy Medical West board provided $200,000 to fund the basic facility. The administration supervisor said costs were minimized through internal company efforts, such as painting the new facility on their own.
The 21st Dental Co. commander said having an annex allows patients to receive the care they need in a shorter period. He said an annual 15-minute exam could take a service member two to three hours to reach the main dental clinic and wait for their appointment. The closer location means Marine commands may save as many as 6,000 work hours yearly.
The main dental clinic, built in 1982, has half of the resources Kvaska said are needed to care for the 9,000 Sailors and Marines his company treats. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment were the first scheduled to come in after their recent deployment for examinations.
“So far we’ve been doing really well,” said Lt. Cmdr. James Thompson, dental annex officer-in-charge, 21st Dental Co. “Our trial runs have worked out nicely with the Marines we’ve seen so far.”
The next step for the 21st Dental Co. will be outfitting a mobile dental van, Kvaska said. The company commander said the mobile unit functions just as the annex does, and patients can have X-rays taken or their teeth cleaned. The van, provided by 3rd Dental Battalion, is scheduled to arrive in July from Japan.
“Rather than send 100 people to the clinic – we could park the dental van in the hangar bay,” he said. “Personnel can come right from their workstation to get examined, and then they can go back to their desk.”
Kvaska said the new resources are available to maintain as high a level of dental readiness as commands want to have.
“There are a lot of teeth in 9,000 people,” Kvaska said. “Our motto is ‘You can’t fight if you can’t bite.’”