I’ve been to a Maxillofacial surgeon and he confirmed that I need orthognathic surgery and braces to correct a malloclusion of my teeth that is also contributing to TMD. From what I understand the military doesn’t “generally” allow braces during active duty but in my case it is technically deemed a medical necessity and not a cosmetic procedure. Anyone have an idea if they would pay for this kind of thing? I imagine it would at least have to wait till after boot camp.
I would not even know where to look for the actual regulations on such things. They only thing I can tell you is that as a National Guard soldier we are warned to take care of any dental problems before getting activated because if it is anything but a quick fix they will yank them. I was also on active duty for a total of 5 years and never saw anyone with braces.
On the other hand the military (the Air Force at least not sure about all branches) gives out free boob jobs.
And though I’m usually pretty sympathetic towards recruiters I would not believe a word they say on the subject.
Yeah- not sure you want them doing your surgery… Just sayin’.
Yeah, I know it’s an old cite, but my dad had his wisdom teeth out on a destroyer in Korea and it is not the sort of thing you’d join up for.
I dont know of anything forbidding a soldier from having braces. I’ve known at least a half dozen US Army soldiers who had them–Free of Charge.
When I was in Basic, a soldier had massive dental work done, including partial dentures. It didn’t interfere with his training more than say doing KP would, and he had it all finished before graduating and going off to his unit.
I am not sure what is involved with your particular case, but soldiers having braces and/or dental work for preexisting/preenlistment conditions is not unheard of at all!
Just to add… I forget what it’s called, but I have this thing where my gums are receding. Mainly because I brush too hard, I’m told. There is an expensive elective surgery where they take tissue from the roof of your mouth and graft it on to your gums.
There Army will do it for me, for free. All I have to do is say the word. They will also pull my wisdom teeth. My wisdome teeth hardly ever cause me pain, so I haven’t opted to have them pulled. But everytime I get a check up, the dentists ask if I want them removed.
I can’t say anything negative about the Army’s dental program.
Bolding mine.
You can ignore this post, but pool might want the scoop from someone who knows. I am an active duty Air Force recruiter, and the Air Force would pay for the surgery. As far as the quality of service, in 12 years I’ve never had anything to complain about. The Air Force’s doctors and dentists have been good to me. To answer a question you didn’t ask in your OP, you would not be able to join the Air Force (I can’t speak for the other branches officially, but their medical criteria are pretty close to ours) with a health/dental condition like that. If the dentist says you need surgery, you can’t join until that surgery is finished. If a person has braces when they join the AF, they have to get them removed before Basic Military Training. WARNING: Anecdote follows: I sent a young man to BMT last fall that had his braces removed three days before leaving. As soon as he finished BMT and went to his technical training school, the dentist there told him he needed braces so the Air Force dentists put them on for him. He was out of braces for something like 6 and a half months.
BTW: the AF doesn’t “give out free boob jobs” to anyone who asks. It is only done when a medical necessity (damage from accidents/battle) or a psychologist says that a member needs it.
If you want cites for any of that information, I can look them up tomorrow and post them.
Yeah.
The OP would be better off hiding his condition from recruiters and revealing it later, after entering the armed forces, then they HAVE to treat you, unless it is in fact a purely cosmetic procedure.
No, the OP would be better off not hiding it from recruiters, but getting the surgey taken care of then trying to join.
I knew an active duty officer who had braces. On the one tentacle, he was a pilot and thus on “flight status” which is a very particular medical standard. On the other tentacle, he was not in what you would call a “tactical” job; its not like he was going to be engaging in hand-to-hand combat anytime soon.
I’d also second the “don’t believe anything a recruiter says” notion. Nothing personal billyb0b; there are good recruiters and bad recruiters. The problem is, there’s no way for a new person to know which kind he’s got.
And, this is only rumor, but the boob job deal as I heard it is this: A military surgical training hospital must teach breast reconstruction to its student docs. If you buy the implants, and can be one of their patients, then the surgery itself is free.
Then someone should tell the nurses that were in my JTF. There must be a lot of boob related psychological problems going on. They told me (you know, the Air Force medical personnel I was talking about) that the plastic surgeons in the Air Force need to keep active so there is no problem getting the work done. Maybe they were bullshitting but they seemed happy about their own sets.
I didn’t go that far. I believe that a large percentage of recruiters don’t lie. However in this case they might not be able to get the correct information easily and may give the wrong answer. Since the recruiter is not a doctor or nurse he would not know what would happen with the OPs particular medical condition once he is in.
Correct, but I can cite the particular instruction (used to be called regs) that show how to handle this situation. Will come back tomorrow with cites. And pie.
ETA: They were bullshitting you.
No they weren’t. Although now that I think of it they were a mix of Navy and Air Force.
I hope the cite is good enough for you since it quotes the chief of plastic surgery at Brooke Army Hospital and is from a known source. There were plenty of others I found in a quick search.
But that would really defeat the purpose, since the OP (if I understand correctly) wants to join the service so that they will pay for his surgery.
Have you asked anyone if TMD is a medical condition that could keep you from being able to join at all? I am no expert on medical exclusion, but I am a sufferer of TMD who has gotten my jaw adjusted twice with braces, and it’s not usually something that goes away, more like is kept at bay. I don’t think that braces or surgery will “cure” your TMD, whether you get them as a civilian or a soldier.
Being stressed out, sleeping in a weird position, eating weird food and getting your jaw jarred are things that make your TMD flare up (or get worse, or mis-align you again)…and are also things that you’re likely to encounter more in the military than in civilian life. TMJ pain can be quite debilitating.
Just this evening I took a bite of a sub sandwich with a too-hard crust, and now my entire head hurts as well as my neck, shoulders and right arm.
Something to consider…but hey, if the military is cool with it and you’re cool with it, go on and serve us proudly! 
Billybob is correct as far as tha army is concerned. (former army recruiter). IIRC from my recruiting days you may not be able to join with braces, but after BCT, they’ll do it free of charge. Depending on your duty station you can go to a civilian doctor and have it done.