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Kadena's labs sculpt bright smiles

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Nestor Cruz
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) --  When Airmen and their families are in need of dental repair for chipped or broken teeth or even in need of replacements for missing teeth, who do they turn to?

The easy answer would be "the dentist," but that is only half correct.

Two labs within the 18th Dental Squadron here work behind the scenes, creating miniature masterpieces of sculpted porcelain and metal. The base dental lab services the local community as well as the area dental lab, which services 52 different U.S. Pacific Command installations. Both produce a variety of devices designed to maintain the oral health of servicemembers in the Pacific.

These prosthodontics include gold crowns, complete dentures, hard night guards, and soft or sport mouth guards and retainers. In addition, the ADL specializes in removable partial dentures. 

The dental technicians often work behind the scenes, never seeing the patients who receive the fruits of their labor.

"We don't see the patients day-to-day," said Master Sgt. Wendell Morris, the squadron's NCO in charge of the base dental lab.  "Occasionally we do consultation with a doctor on the color or shape of a tooth needing work, but other than that, the doctor does all the business with the patient, taking molds or impression of teeth for us to work with."

"When fabrication is finished, we give [the dental appliance] back to the doctor and the doctor sees their patient for a follow-up appointment," he added.

While all the work behind the dental appliance can be credited to the lab technicians, the dentist takes full responsibility for the quality of the appliance.

"Although we make these appliances, the doctor is still ultimately responsible for what our lab technicians make," said Master Sgt. Robert Fox, the squadron's NCOIC for the area dental lab.

Technicians from both labs take great pride in their work, calling it both an art and a science.

"The biggest challenge is starting from a foundation and building it up, making replacements for what nature gave the patient," said Sergeant Morris. "Each piece we make must meet form, fit, function and aesthetics. It must function properly, not feel bulky and look pretty."

Another challenge is providing a timely service to military members across all of PACOM. That's where a little inter-lab cooperation goes a long way. Although the two labs serve different customers, they often cross into each other's workcenter to offer assistance with the day's workload.

"Sometimes if things are slow and we don't have much work, we come over and grab some work from [the ADL] to help with their workload," said Sergeant Morris. "We
fabricate what's needed from our lab, and they package it and send out to the requesting base."

Ultimately the labs strive to provide superior service to customers who will never have the opportunity to thank them, and that's okay.

"We do our best to get the dental appliances out to our customers as quick as we can," said Tech. Sgt. Thomas Wheeler, the NCOIC of fixed prosthodontics. "It's our job to promote the oral health of our warfighters and their families."

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