Page 32 - JSOM Summer 2022

the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine and at Fort • Dental restorations. Students are trained to restore
Bragg. Current efforts are under way to create a permanent dental lesions (carious and/or traumatic) with the most
collaboration with Auburn University to gain access to their available materials on the market (foreign and domes-
highly trained specialized instructors, state-of-the-art facilities, tic). Focus is on eliminating pain, restoring function,
and convenient proximity to quality surroundings in the City and esthetics (if mission dictates): permanent dental res-
of Auburn. torations (if all decay/caries can be removed) – Fuji IX
(can be used as a temporary due to its excellent hydro-
NTM instructors include the battalion surgeons as well as ded- philic adhesive properties) and provisional dental resto-
icated SMEs assigned to the Group Support Battalion (GSB) rations (Intermediate restorative material [IRM], Cavit).
Medical Company, to include dentists, veterinarians, and
physical therapists. Outside SMEs, both civilian and military, Dental Instructors
are sometimes contracted on an as-needed basis, and 18Ds as- The 20th SFG(A) has three dentists on staff who support this
signed to the GSB’s Special Operations Training Detachment training (Figures 2 and 3):
(SOTD) often assist with the training. FIGURE 2 Inferior alveolar block by an NTM student.

Courses
Among the wide range of classes taught, some are universal
(such as suture and ultrasound labs) while others are unique
to the SOF world. Examples of recent classes include human
and animal cadaver labs for suture and dental nerve blocks
and extraction techniques; food animal slaughter techniques,
carcass defabrication (butchering techniques), and food
preservation; sports medicine to include managing acute
and subacute injuries, joint aspirations, and dry needling; a
COVID-19 panel from three emergency physicians working
on the frontlines; pack animals to include how to assemble
a travois for CASEVAC and how to balance your load when
packing crew served weapons; nutrition – a close look at sci-
ence behind all the supplements, trending fads, and current
theories; performing water safety and purification measures;
and, psychology for evaluating and managing a team mem-
ber downrange. Following is a list of the commonly offered
courses at NTM.
Dental
The dental lectures and wet labs are divided into five main
topics: anatomy overview, intraoral disease, pain manage-
ment, atraumatic extractions, and restorative treatments.
• Anatomy overview serves as a brief refamiliarization
to general dental knowledge and proper nomenclature.
This segment explains the process for caries (dental de-
cay) formation and how, if not managed correctly, this FIGURE 3 Oral exam
can develop into an abscessed tooth. demonstrated by 20th SFG(A).
• Intraoral disease expands the discussion into different
types of disease found within the oral cavity, while fo-
cusing primarily on gingival abnormalities and clinical
presentations for an abscessed tooth. Dental diseases
include tooth decay/caries, periodontal disease, periapi-
cal abscess, oral cancers (i.e., squamous cell carcinoma),
oral ulcers (i.e., herpetic, aphthous, traumatic), and
Ludwig’s angina.
• Pain management discusses creating a good differential
diagnosis to identify if the patient’s dental pain is of
odontogenic (tooth) origin or periodontal (gum) origin.
Depending on the underlying etiology of the disease, ap- • COL Jerold Kouchi is a graduate of Indiana University,
propriate pain management and proper treatment can School of Dentistry. He has supported 20th SFG(A) for
be determined. Students are trained to provide basic more than 15 years and has 28 years of experience in
dental nerve blocks on each other. The blocks include private practice.
mandibular blocks (inferior alveolar, mental, long buc- • MAJ James Do has been a group dentist with the 20th
cal, gow-gates discussed verbally, lingual block) and SFG(A) since 2015 after a 6-year stint on active duty as
maxillary blocks (posterior superior alveolar, middle an Army comprehensive dentist. He has a wide array of
superior alveolar, anterior superior alveolar, greater pal- experiences to include vast multispecialty dental train-
atine, nasopalatiine). ing, forward deployed area dental support, and exten-
• Dental extractions include proper technique and the use sive SOF experience. On the civilian side, Dr Do works
of appropriate instrumental use specific to each tooth. at a multioffice private dental practice, where he runs
Clinical case presentations from procedures performed the main office and travels to their other offices to pro-
down range were provided as visual aids for the stu- vide specialty dental care.
dents. Students perform supervised extractions on por- • MAJ Tristan “Tri” Tran has supported ARSOF as
cine and/or human cadavers. a dentist for 10 years, working with 5th SFG(A), 1st

30 | JSOM Volume 22, Edition 2 / Summer 2022