PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Have you ever been confused about what your dental technician and the dentist are saying during your appointment? When they say things like caries, periodontics or when they talk about your dental class. Well, I am going to help you understand the meaning behind a dental class.
There are 4 different dental classes, each has a different meaning. When check the individual medical readiness website, you will see that you are either green, yellow or red under dental and this reflects your dental readiness classification. Dental classes are labelled as dental class 1-4.
If you see that you are green in IMR this means that you are dental class 1. You have no dental treatment pending or needed. You are current with your dental exam and you have no dental treatment needs after your exam. This is everyone's favorite DRC because you are deployable and not waiting for pending treatment.
Class 2 would be yellow on IMR because you have pending non-emergency dental treatment. This means the treatment needed will not cause any dental emergency or severe problems in the next 12 months. You are still deployable in this class, meaning you can leave for deployment and once you return you will resume your dental treatment. Some examples of treatment could be a dental cleaning or even a small cavity.
Dental class 3 will reflect red on your IMR. You have pending dental treatment that can cause a dental emergency or severe problems in the next 12 months. This class makes you non-deployable and you will take priority over someone that is in dental class 2. Examples of dental treatment that can make you dental class 3 would be root canal treatment, some tooth extractions and large cavities.
The last and final dental class is dental class 4. Class 4 will make your IMR red under dental as well. The reason for this is because you have not had a dental exam in the past 13 months. Your dental readiness status is unknown and this causes you to be non-deployable. The quick and easy fix to this would be to call the dental clinic and get scheduled for your dental exam as soon as possible. Dental class 4 patients have the highest priority.
To schedule a dental appointment or for more information, please call the Peterson Space Force Base Dental Clinic at 719-556-1333 or the Schriever Space Force Base Dental Clinic at 719-567-5065.