Status and prospects of development of military dentistry in Ukraine

Providing a high level of dental care to military personnel during military activities is one of the major tasks of military dentistry. The work objective is to increase the effectiveness of the system for providing dental care to military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine taking into account the experience of military operation of the Joint Forces in the East of Ukraine in the terms and conditions of transition to Euro-Atlantic standards. It is established that in Ukraine significant changes have been introduced in the system of dental care delivery for military personnel. Dental care is provided to military personnel against extremely high dental disease incidence rate among the military personnel of the units. In the area of the operation of the Joint Forces, a new model of providing dental care to military personnel has been created and successfully operates, which is represented by a network of hospital and removable (mobile) offices. Possibilities of implementation of Euro-Atlantic dental care standards in Ukraine have been studied and the ways of their implementation in military dental institutions have been identified. Several significant differences were detected in the system of domestic dental care organization in the action area: human resourcing, extent of care and complete service facilities. A comprehensive program for prevention of dental diseases and the classification of dental health condition of military personnel which must ensure qualitative staffing of Ukrainian troops in action area has been developed. The scope of assistance has been substantiated and local clinical practice guidelines of dental care for military personnel in action area have been developed taking into account military experience gained in the area of JFO as well as NATO standards. Obtained results give the possibility to make conclusion that the principal mainstream for improvement of military dentistry in Ukraine is bringing of all aspects of its operation into conformity with relevant NATO standards, taking into account own experience gained during military activities in the East of Ukraine.