Clinical user evaluation of field dental equipment under military deployment conditions

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the clinical performance of a number of types of field (i.e., portable) dental equipment used under actual military deployment conditions. This equipment is often used under demanding field conditions where temperature, humidity, and air quality are not controlled. This article presents the results of a project conducted by the Naval Institute for Dental and Biomedical Research and the Air Force Dental Evaluation and Consultation Service to evaluate commercially available field dental equipment through laboratory testing and clinical user evaluations at military deployment sites. The purpose of the study was to identify the best-performing and most cost-effective field dental equipment for possible operational use by the U.S. Navy. Initial laboratory testing was performed at the Naval Institute for Dental and Biomedical Research and the equipment was then shipped to Okinawa, Japan, where it was tested by military dentists and assistants under deployment conditions. The testing provided beneficial results by identifying equipment that performed properly and equipment that exhibited shortcomings serious enough to render it inappropriate for field use.