Dentist, technician battle workload to get the job done

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  At home station, many people avoid seeing the dentist. But at a forward-deployed location here, people seem to flock to the dentist.

With only one dentist and one dental technician, the dental clinic is responsible for the care of more than 10,000 people across the host nation and into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

“Although we are primarily here for triage and emergency care, we see some patients from Iraq and Afghanistan who can’t be treated where they’re at, like for root canals and fillings,” said Capt. (Dr.) Ali Miremami, 379th Expeditionary Medical Group dentist. “We also perform other oral surgeries that can’t be done anywhere else in the AOR.”

On top of the emergency care, they are responsible for the routine care of all permanent party people here as well.

Doctor Miremami, who is deployed from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., has been a dentist in the Air Force for five years. When he first entered the Air Force, he was selected for a two-year residency at Keesler AFB, Miss., where he became qualified to perform oral surgery.

The clinic averages about 10 patients a day, Dr. Miremami said. For one dentist and one dental technician, this is a huge workload.

“Each patient can sometimes take one to two hours,” he said.

The duration of each patient’s visit, coupled with other responsibilities, means the doctor and his dental technician, Tech. Sgt. Jessica Pomales, can only attend to patients who need urgent care.

“We are emergency-only because everything should be taken care of at their home stations,” Dr. Miremami said.

Sergeant Pomales said they have had to fix urgent dental situations that could have been avoided.

“We have people whose home station deployed them here in Class III status,” Sergeant Pomales said. A person in Class III dental status should not deploy because of severe dental needs.

Sergeant Pomales, who is deployed from Muñiz Air National Guard Base, P.R., said people also call the clinic wanting routine procedures performed.

“People will call and want cleanings, or aesthetic procedures like teeth bleaching,” she said. “We just don’t have time to do that here.”

Besides the workload, the Airmen said that the biggest challenge they face is when people do not know the definition of an emergency.

“An emergency constitutes a patient in severe pain who cannot wait until they get back to their home station,” Dr. Miremami said.

While this may sound somewhat callous, it is for good reason.

“When people come here for routine care, they are taking away appointments from people who really need them,” Sergeant Pomales said.

The Airmen said they are expected to function as a complete dental unit. Beyond their dental duties, they act as receptionists, record keepers and janitorial staff, and they must sterilize their own instruments. When seeing as many as 11 patients a day, sterilization can take a long time to ensure every instrument that touches a person’s mouth is clean, they said.

While this may seem like almost too much for many in their profession, it comes down to teamwork and positive attitudes to make their time here easier.

“We work well together because we know what each other needs to get the job done,” Sergeant Pomales said.

While working well as a team makes life easier, job satisfaction is what they said keeps them motivated every day.

“When you get to see someone you’ve treated and you know you’ve made them feel better, it gives you a good feeling,” Dr. Miremami said. “It’s nice knowing that your job is helping people here.”