COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The 14th Medical Operations Support Squadron’s Dental Flight ensures Columbus Air Force Base continues to produce pilots and “Feed the Fight” by keeping Airmen’s teeth in check.
“Our job is to keep people ready to deploy and keep them in good dental health so they can keep doing their job in the Air Force,” said Capt. John Ensley, 14th MDOS General Dentist.
With Columbus AFB being one of three pilot training bases, dental care is very important; pilots and student pilots can’t worry about a bad tooth distracting them when they are flying or in class learning the fundamentals of flying.
“We’ve got to keep people on flight status so they can do the training and we also make sure people are deployable,” Ensley said. “Certain dental issues can also keep you from being deployed.”
The Dental Flight sees about 1,700 patients a year. The office is capable of performing general operative procedures, crowns and bridges, oral surgeries, wisdom teeth extraction, some gum surgeries, root canal and preventative measures such as cleanings, exams and X-rays. As Columbus AFB is only assigned a general dentist, more complex dental procedures are usually sent to off base dental offices.
The Dental Flight is unique because there are only two dentists, which allows them to work closely to help provide quality patient care. Ensley said the pilot training and the foreign national programs have had some very unique cases he wouldn’t have seen elsewhere.
To cater to the pilot training program, the Dental Flight has come up with a specialized routine for new incoming pilot classes.
“One of the unique processes that we have here is the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Day, which allows us to get a new pilot class in and make sure they all have their annual exams and fix any issues,” said Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Farinas, 14th MDOS dental assistant. “This allows them to not miss class and focus on training.”
Farinas said the best part about being in the Dental Flight is meeting and talking everyone on base. He said hearing everyone else’s stories and journeys keeps him going to help ensure the 14th Flying Training Wing is healthy and able to Feed the Fight and Produce Pilots.