Army - Kicking Tires On Jltv

Deep Roots of the Army’s
Before 1901, the Army didn’t pay much attention
to soldiers’ teeth. In order to serve
during the Civil War, Army recruits simply
had to have six opposing upper and lower
teeth to bite off the tough paper powder cartridges
that were used in muzzle-loading rifles. By 1900,
those wishing to serve in the Army had to have only
four teeth—the minimum number required to chew
food. Ironically, the nation’s first commanding general,
George Washington, had only one real tooth
when he was sworn in as president.
Despite repeated pleas dating from the Civil War
for Army dentists, the idea was largely ignored.
Congress was finally forced to enact legislation creating
an Army Dental Corps in 1901 as a result of
the Spanish-American War. American soldiers campaigning
in Spain’s tropical colonies such as Cuba,
the Dominican Republic and the Philippines were
confronted with extraordinary dental problems.
According to Dr. John Sayre Marshall, the Army’s
first dental surgeon, soldiers who served in these
tropical environments experienced climate conditions
and “changes in the habits of life” that were
“enervating and debilitating to the general system.”
Marshall noted that as a result, the soldiers’ resistance
to disease was “greatly lessened,” consequently
predisposing them to dental diseases.
$150 per Month
Initially, Congress authorized 30 dental positions
that paid $150 per month as well as free housing.
About 1,000 civilian dentists applied. The legislation
provided that the dentists would not be actual soldiers
but “contract dentists,” with a pay grade equivalent to
a first lieutenant. The reason for this was that many in Congress
were skeptical about the need for dentists at all. The compromise
that was reached was an experiment to determine if a dental
corps was a useful adjunct to the Army.
Those chosen were obligated to work seven hours a day for
the Army. After that, they could work up to two additional
hours to treat soldiers’ families and civilian employees, charging
the regular fee. Military dependents were not covered under
the legislation.
Marshall assigned the successful candidates to various posts
around the nation and overseas from his headquarters at the
Presidio of San Francisco. Newspapers reported that each
dentist was provided with a “kit of operating machinery …
costing in the neighborhood of $300.” The operating machinery
and other dental paraphernalia were the same as what was
found in offices of the “highest class of dentists in civil life,”
with the exception of the dental chair. The dentist’s chair was
“a folding article of furniture and therefore portable.” Marshall
bragged they were so light that they could be carried on the
Tooth extraction in 1898 during the Spanish-American War
backs of two mules. (In 1901, the Army was not mechanized.)
By 1903, in the Annual Reports of the War Department for the
Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1902, Marshall was able to report a
remarkable success story: “The services of the Dental Corps
have been highly appreciated by officers and enlisted men of
the Regular and Volunteer Armies,” he wrote, adding that the
dental corps relieved “a great amount of acute suffering” and
was able to “conserve a large number of teeth and restore them
to a healthy condition, thus almost immediately returning to
duty many cases that were previously carried for several days
upon the company sick report … greatly reducing the loss of
valuable time to the service, incident to diseases of the mouth,
teeth and jaws.”
Officer Dentists Authorized
From the moment he took office, Marshall fought for the
inclusion of dentists within the officers’ ranks. He finally attained
his dream in 1911, when Congress authorized a dental
corps made up of officers. He was the first dentist commis-
Library of Congress
40 ARMY ■ February 2016