A toothache should never ground a warfighter

OPINION:

I learned early in life that pain doesn’t wait. As a captain in the United States Air Force serving as a dentist, and later in more than 30 years of civilian practice, I’ve seen firsthand that a severe toothache strikes without regard for time, place, or circumstance. Whether you’re sitting in a state-of-the-art clinic or marching with a rucksack halfway across the globe, pain is the same. In uniform, there is no convenient moment for a medical problem. Every day and every minute counts.

For our service members, oral health is not a minor issue. It is a matter of readiness. Military commanders have long understood this reality. Dental emergencies are among the most common preventable reasons for medical evacuations from deployed environments. Every year, thousands of duty hours are lost to conditions that could have been prevented with timely care. Class 3 designations those with significant untreated conditions render troops non-deployable, and roughly half of them will face a painful emergency within weeks.

We have seen needless vulnerabilities in military health care for years, which is why Congress enacted legislation in 2021 that mandated accreditation standards to reduce risk and strengthen care across military dental facilities. Yet, years later, gaps remain. Some clinics still lack the independent verification to ensure consistent, high-quality treatment, and staffing shortages continue to strain the system. Accreditation is not mere box-checking; it is the gold standard for patient safety, clinical consistency, and accountability. At the same time, recruiting and retaining dentists and specialists has become increasingly difficult, leaving clinics understaffed and service members waiting longer for the care required to remain deployable.

These are real problems. They lead to lost training days, diverted medical evacuations, and reduced combat effectiveness when every minute and every Marine, soldier, sailor or airman matters.

That’s exactly why I submitted the dental provisions as an amendment, now part of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. My amendment requires the Department of Defense Inspector General to conduct a thorough review of every military dental facility: how many are still unaccredited, what obstacles remain, what resources and funding are truly needed and what specific actions Congress should take to complete the process. The report is due one year after passage, so we can act quickly and deliberately.

We also directed the Pentagon to develop clear plans for prioritizing active-duty dental personnel assignments to the facilities that need them most, with annual reports to Congress starting next year. No more guesswork. No more hoping the problem will resolve itself.

These measures are simple, commonsense and long overdue. Fully accredited clinics with well-staffed teams mean fewer emergencies on the battlefield, more warfighters ready when the nation needs them, and greater confidence that the care our troops and their families receive is the care they deserve.

Our military exists to deter conflict and win decisively when needed. That requires a force that is healthy, trained and lethal. Dental readiness is part of that equation, and I am proud that the FY2026 NDAA finally recognizes the importance of dental readiness. Our service members have already sacrificed enough for this country; the least we can do is ensure their health does not become another obstacle to mission success.

America’s strength begins with the readiness of every individual who wears the uniform, and readiness includes their health, their care, and yes, even their teeth. With my amendment in this year’s NDAA, we are taking a practical, commonsense step to sustain that strength and keep America’s military, the strongest fighting force in the world, fully deployable.

• Rep. Brian Babin has represented Texas’ 36th Congressional District since 2015. He was sworn into the 114th Congress on Jan. 6, 2015. Babin serves as the Chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.