NORFOLK, VA. – Did you know the role of a Dental officer extends far beyond maintaining oral health? Dental officers also serve as triage officers in times of crisis. They practice trauma evaluation skills by classifying patients into triage categories, performing triage and surgical support duties at battalion aid and battle dressing stations, stations located near a combat area for giving first aid to the wounded.

Recently, 30 Sailors and soldiers participated in triage and tactical casualty combat care (TCCC) training aboard USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), equipping Navy and Army medical professionals with critical trauma response skills needed in crisis situations.

The group was composed of more than 15 trainers, including Simulation Center Staff, that trained 20 dentists from the Navy and Army, two physicians, a medical administration officer, a chaplain, and 10 hospital corpsmen.

The triage training program originated from a partnership between Dr. Mary Sturgeon, a Veterans Affairs dentist at the Simulation Learning, Evaluation, Assessment, and Research Network (SimLEARN), the Veteran’s Health Administration program for simulation in health care training, and Cmdr. Daniel Honl, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Great Lakes, who previously led similar sessions for other medical personnel. Their collaborative approach provided dental officers and corpsmen with essential trauma first-responder skills that prepare them for various mission scenarios.

“In this training we had eight brand new dental officers reporting to us as their first command,” said Cmdr. Blaze Negron, the senior dental officer assigned to Iwo Jima. “We’re preparing them for any roles that they could possibly have in their day-to-day, as well as in support of operational medicine. Because of this training program they’re much more confident to engage in those evolutions and see what areas they can develop.”

This training is part of a Navy Medicine-wide pilot program through a partnership with NMRTC Great Lakes and Lovell Veteran’s Affairs Healthcare Facility designed to cover a broad spectrum of casualty care to better provide healthcare ashore, the sea, and the front lines. “We cast our net wide, addressing different aspects of trauma response,” Negron explained. “Through this experience, these dental officers will become even more valuable to overall medical response efforts in a crisis.”

Capt. José Pedroza, the senior regional dental officer assigned to Naval Medical Forces Atlantic (NMFL), noted that students achieved TCCC Level 1 certification and 24 hours of continuing education. “This joint training went well,” Pedroza said. “Skill stations were created to address triage, and included the Walking Blood Bank, and mass casualty scenarios.”

Ultimately the Emergent Care Training with Medical Simulated Modules training highlights the collaboration between Navy and Army medical teams, fostering interoperable readiness and teamwork. The joint effort also underscores the role of dental officers as adaptable first responders capable of providing emergency care under intense, real-world conditions. By immersing the trainees in hands-on exercises, the event emphasized both tactical and medical readiness, preparing the participants to support and sustain a rapid response in crises, whether during humanitarian missions or on the battlefield.

NMFL, headquartered in Portsmouth, Virginia, delivers operationally focused medical expertise and capabilities to meet Fleet, Marine and Joint Force requirements by providing equipment, sustainment and maintenance of medical forces during combat operations and public health crises. NMFL provides oversight for 21 NMRTCs, logistics, and public health and dental services throughout the U.S. East Coast, U.S. Gulf Coast, Cuba, Europe, and the Middle East.

Navy Medicine – represented by more than 44,000 highly-trained military and civilian health care professionals – provides enduring expeditionary medical support to the warfighter on, below, and above the sea, and ashore.