The mission is to prevent, treat, and care for sailors.
How it works is that the senior medical and dental officers the ones to report to the Health Services department and the Commanding Officer (CO) on all matters affecting the health of the crew.
Medical readiness is based on IMR with 6 basic requirements
Individual Medical Readiness (IMR) is ongoing and must be monitored and reported regularly.
If you’re interested in the details, they are outlined in the SECNAVINST 6120.3 series, Periodic Health Assessment for Individual Medical Readiness.
In short, the IMR is made of 6 basic elements:
- Individual medical equipment (glasses, gas mask inserts)
- Immunizations (TB screening, tetanus)
- Readiness lab studies (DNA, G6PD)
- Deployment limiting conditions
- Periodic health assessment (PHA)
- Dental readiness
Periodic Health Assessment (PHA) is an evaluation to make sure you got all IMR elements covered
PHA is used to check and review IMR deficiencies. Such things can include a member who needs an immunization, new glasses, or even a dental exam. PHA also makes sure everything complies with the Deployment Health Assessments. The completeness of PHA largely depends on all 6 elements of the IMR.
How a service member’s dental health determines their deployability
They call it the Fleet and Force Dental Officers and they are in charge of making sure the fleet is dental ready. Class 1 and 2 service members are worldwide deployable.
| Class | Meaning |
| 1 | No dental treatment needed for this member, no emergency if oral condition not treated |
| 2 | An oral condition exists for this member, but if not treated, does not have the potential to be an emergency within 12 months |
| 3 | Any oral condition that will result in an emergency within the next 12 months |
| 4 | This member needs a dental exam or has an oral condition that is unknown |
Class 3 and 4 members are likely a problem for operations and missions and are considered non-deployable and usually go to the head of the line for treatment prior to deployment.
What service members are officially not deployable?
When determining if someone is deployable or not, it really depends on the review of a person’s medical history and any administrative issues that exist. Service members who are on limited duty or undergoing the Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) or Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) are NOT deployable.
