Question about dental health before National Guard enlistment

ColtComanche

ColtComanche

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I have two wisdom teeth that NEED removal, and two damaged adult molars also scheduled for removal but I’ve been told those two could be easily saved with a root canal & crown which I can’t afford at the moment. One just has a chunk missing, and the other has exposed pulp but I’ve never had it hurt.

My surgery is on the 13th and I planned on attempting to enlist in about a month after my mouth has healed sufficiently.

My question is, would I be disqualified lacking two molars, and alternatively would I be able to cancel removing those two and be able to save them later on?

I could also theoretically try and get a loan of some kind to save them, it would just be putting me in the red before I could enlist.
 
With the amount of teeth I’ve seen Army dentists pull from people, I don’t think missing molars would do anything

I’d ask your recruiter to see if it’ll cause you to need some sort of medical waiver since they’ll be the ones plugged in with MEPS and entry requirements

If you don’t fix them before going in they’ll likely snatch them out and the recovery process will suck
 
With wisdom teeth and perfect dental health you're still Class II. Needing root canal may require a waiver. I'm pretty sure you do need a waiver. Not having wisdom teeth/molars is not a disqualifying event.

Edited to add, they prefer you to not have wisdom teeth. It's a potential complication when you're deployed.
 
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Not an answer to your question directly, but a crown costs a lot less than an implant so I’d find a way to get them done now.

I’d explain the situation to your oral surgeon, he or she may give you a sweetheart deal.
 
11B CIB said:
With the amount of teeth I’ve seen Army dentists pull from people, I don’t think missing molars would do anything

I’d ask your recruiter to see if it’ll cause you to need some sort of medical waiver since they’ll be the ones plugged in with MEPS and entry requirements

If you don’t fix them before going in they’ll likely snatch them out and the recovery process will suck
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Chuckman said:
With wisdom teeth and perfect dental health you're still Class II. Needing root canal may require a waiver. I'm pretty sure you do need a waiver. Not having wisdom teeth/molars is not a disqualifying event.
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JimB said:
Not an answer to your question directly, but a crown costs a lot less than an implant so I’d find a way to get them done now.

I’d explain the situation to your oral surgeon, he or she may give you a sweetheart deal.
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So would you recommend I just have them pulled, or spend the money for root canal & crown and hope I don’t go in the red before I can enlist?
 
Generally speaking they will take care of your teeth when you get to basic. Cavities will be filled, wisdom teeth will be pulled, whatever needs doing. Your time on "active duty" is for you to get whatever dental work that needs doing. Nowadays they pull wisdom teeth in AIT as it's less stressful to recover.

It's not like it used to be. My dad tells stories of when his NG unit was activated in 1990 for Desert Storm. Many teeth were pulled on those who either didn't practice dental hygeine or hadn't seen a dentist in years.
 
ColtComanche said:
But the issue is CAN I enlist without issue with them pulled or not?
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That’s why I was suggesting talk to the recruiter. They’ll know more accurately what the medical requirements are and what requires a waiver or can be pushed off/to be addressed later type situation

@adamr94 its still that way. I saw some IRR soldiers who were recalled to AD get absolutely mauled once they came back in and had bad teeth
 
ColtComanche said:
So would you recommend I just have them pulled, or spend the money for root canal & crown and hope I don’t go in the red before I can enlist?
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I do not know the answer to your enlistment question, but I would go into the red for the root canal & crowns if needed not knowing if the army will just pull them or crown them. They are capable of doing either, your recruiter will tell you what he thinks will get you to sign up, so you gotta guess.

But, you might find someone to do it at a price you can afford, just gotta explain to them your situation. If you can’t and you won’t go into the red, then ask the recruiter and then let the army do what the army wants.
 
Diablos said:
The army employs world class dentists, nothing to worry about




























🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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And while we’re telling tall tales, Joe Biden is a genius, Bigfoot is real and Marines are really smart. 🤣😅😁
 
I think Id take my chances at MEPS. I would imagine if they find you medically unqualified for dental reasons, then you could pay the have the work done, then try again. Id try to get uncle sugar to do the work for free though. I did see MEPS disqualify a kid for jacked up teeth, but his grill was bad. Looked like a meth head, said it was from eating lemons. This was almost 30 years ago though.
 
scmoose said:
I think Id take my chances at MEPS. I would imagine if they find you medically unqualified for dental reasons, then you could pay the have the work done, then try again. Id try to get uncle sugar to do the work for free though. I did see MEPS disqualify a kid for jacked up teeth, but his grill was bad. Looked like a meth head, said it was from eating lemons. This was almost 30 years ago though.
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Yep, I'd do this. Let MEPS be the final answer, and they'll know. Recruiters won't really know what's allowed and waiverable without talking to them anyway.

I had perfect teeth, but they still made me class II because I still had my wisdom teeth, even though there were zero problems. They kept trying to force me to have them pulled "just in case," and I left the Navy with the same number of teeth I joined with.
 
Ok, now for the question that we are all anxious to hear the answer to.



Did the recruiter promise you that you would get an original Colt SP1?
 
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