Capt. Karl Richards, left, and Pvt. Barbara Armstrong fill a tooth on patient Michael French at the Darmstadt Dental Clinic on Monday. (Raymond T. Conway / Stars and Stripes)
Complaints from civilians about not being able to get in to see a dentist in Europe have become frequent enough at town hall meetings that the dentists have taken to calling them “town hall beatings.”
But it turns out that not all of the problem is related to the fact that the military dental command’s priority is on soldiers’ needs.
In April, 2,189 patients missed appointments at the U.S. Army Europe Regional Dental Command’s 36 dental clinics throughout Europe, more than double the normal amount of no-shows, said Col. Michael Cuenin, ERDC commander.
“And it’s not just active-duty” who are missing appointments, he said.
In fact, of Darmstadt dental clinic’s 1,500 appointments last month, nearly three- fourths of the 153 no-shows were family members, according to one dental official.
In general, dentists expect about 4 percent of their patients to skip appointments, he said. The rate for the command has been higher, about 7 percent, which translates to huge numbers of hours of wasted dental treatment.
By comparison, the Air Force has had 2,150 missed appointments in the last seven months, or about 4.9 percent, according to Capt. Alisen Iverson, a U.S. Air Forces in Europe spokeswoman.
The Navy in Europe doesn’t track the number of no-shows, officials at Navy Region Europe said.
Maj. Michael Beatty, ERDC executive officer, and Cuenin said they didn’t know the reasons why more people were missing appointments and not bothering to call — the operations tempo, the fact that patients don’t pay came to mind.
But dental command officials say they are there to encourage, not to scold.
“I want patients to want to come in,” Cuenin said. “I take it personally. They should feel it’s important enough and beneficial enough.”
Whatever the reason for missing an appointment, they said, if patients would cancel 48 hours in advance, the appointment times could be filled by other patients, and everyone’s happiness would increase.
“A 2 or 3 percentage point [drop] would open up hundreds of appointments,” Cuenin said.
The command’s 224 dentists are responsible for caring for some 85,000 military family members and retirees, unlike those in U.S.-based dental commands, who see only military members. But family members and retirees are seen only on a space-available basis, and dentist staffing levels are more congruent with the command’s primary mission: to see to the teeth and gums of U.S. Army Europe’s 62,000 soldiers.
That’s become especially apparent, Cuenin said, as the Iraq war has forced dentists to sharpen their focus and treat soldiers about to deploy or just back from deployment. Dental services are required for all soldiers heading to, or coming back from, any deployment.
“I think the demand for dental care over here is so great for all beneficiaries … our readiness has suffered and then our family care has suffered,” Cuenin said. “We have a good product — it’s almost too good. The demand is great.”
Reporter Ron Jensen in England contributed to this report.
