Uncle Sam, Dentist

The Veterans Administration Dental Service had a new chief. Dr. Bion R. East, 63, dean of Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery since 1945, was appointed last week to a job vacant since the death last October of Dr. M. M. Fowler. Next month he will take over one of the least publicized and most expensive operations in the vast ($7,001,514,365-a-year) Veterans Administration programs.

So far, nearly a million World War II veterans have had their dentist bills paid by the U.S. Government. Total cost to the taxpayers: $67 million. The claims of 291,330 veterans for free dentistry are now going through the VA works. Another 200,000 are being treated (treatments may include everything from an amalgam filling to a full plate). In 1947 657,254 treatments were given at a cost of $42,698,627. Of these, 600,400 were by local dentists on a fee basis, the rest by the VA's own staff dentists.

Only about three out of every 100 cases are the result of battle wounds. But VA regulations are not too strict. Any veteran whose teeth went bad while in service is entitled to free care. If cavities or other dental troubles show up within a year after discharge (provided the veteran has served at least six months), the trouble is presumed to be "service-connected." The ex-serviceman can get free dental service for as long as he needs it on any tooth treated in his first year out of service.

The veteran with an aching molar may have to wait four months to get free care, or his dentist will have to wait four months for his pay. Typical question : If the veteran has one front tooth with a cavity that developed while he was in service, and this affected the tooth next to it, which can be filled? Answer: Only the tooth with the service-connected cavity. But if both teeth have to be pulled out, the VA will pay for a bridge for both gaps.

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