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United States Air Force Dental Service

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Profiles

  • William Steen Deeley (1951 - 2002)
    Dr. William S. Deeley served as a dental officer in the US Air Force, retiring as a Lt Colonel. Bill died June 2, 2002. Bill's father and grandfather were dentists. His grandfather's 2 brothers were bo...
  • James William Scoggin (1946 - 1997)
    James William Scoggin Birth: Dec. 6, 1946 Death: Jan. 24, 1997 Burial: Midway Baptist Church Cemetery Decatur, Newton County, Mississippi, USA ************************* Was a US Air Force...

Please add those who are or have served in the US Air Force Dental Service Corps as an Officer or Enlisted person.


The National Security Act of 1947 reorganized America’s military under a single Cabinet-level post, the Department of Defense, and formally elevated the Air Force, formerly a part of the Army, as a separate branch equal to that of the Army and Navy. Two years later, on June 8, 1949, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg signed Order No. 35 creating the Air Force Medical Service, commanded by an Air Force surgeon general and consisting of six divisions: the Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps, Medical Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Women’s Medical Specialist Corps. Almost a month later, on July 1, the Joint Army and Air Force Adjustment Regulation No. 1-11-62 of May 1949 officially transferred the first cadre of 160 dentists from the Army to the Air Force. Though the above dates mark the official establishment of the Air Force and the Air Force Dental Service, its history reaches back to 1917, with the Army Air Corps in World War I.

At the beginning of World War II, the Army Air Corps had 400 dentists. By war’s end that number had increased to 4,000. They found themselves working in every theater and under every imaginable condition, from steaming tropical jungles to frigid arctic tundra.

Forensic dentistry is sometimes the only way a severely mutilated body can be identified. During the war, Army Air Force dentists from the 8th Air Force expanded on existing Army medical forms by creating a more detailed Flying Personnel Dental Identification Form that all pilots and aircrews had to complete. As a result, many aircrew bodies that otherwise would have gone unnamed were positively identified.

Dental Corps

Dental laboratory technicians receive an extensive specialized extended training at the US Air Force School Of Health Care Science. Graduates continue upgraded technical training throughout their career. Advanced courses include the production and technical understanding of complex dental and maxiofacial prosthetics. The Dental Corps consists of commissioned officers holding the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree or Doctor of Dental Medicine degree or a further, post-graduate degree. The chief of the Dental Corps is a major general. The enlisted members of the USAF are assistants, technicians and prophylaxis technicians that train under licensed hygienists. The enlisted members are to support commissioned officers in different areas of the dental clinic. The enlisted members usually receive special training at certain bases that may have periodontist, oral surgeon, endodontist, orthodontist. After the first few years rotating in the clinic as an enlisted member, they can either become a prophylaxis technician which is a hygienist in the Air Force. Enlisted members also have the choices to work in other areas, such as DIPC, where instruments are cleaned, or front desk.

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