The US military is preparing for mass casualties in a major war. Its dentists say it's overlooking toothaches.

An Air Force dental assistant uses a mobile battlefield dental cleaning machine at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado., on Aug.

7, 2026.

Gino Mattorano/Evans Army Community Hospital Army dentists say war games omit dental emergencies that could strain wartime casualty evacuation.

Broken equipment and limited supplies can hinder field dental training opportunities.

Forward dental teams can treat patients quickly and return them to duty.

A painful toothache or an oral infection might not sound like an injury that could sideline a soldier in combat, but US Army dental leaders warn that in a future conflict, such easily overlooked conditions could take troops out of the fight, consume scarce evacuation capacity, and further stress a strained medical system.

Most of the Army's major exercises don't include dental emergencies in their casualty scenarios, dentists said in a recent professional article , leaving commanders with an incomplete picture of the medical and triage or evacuation demands they could face in large-scale combat.

Dental emergencies can quickly render troops "non-mission-capable," the authors wrote, because pain can make it difficult to eat, think clearly, or carry out important tasks like operating weapons.

They described this as a significant "hidden casualty load." Unlike combat wounds, most dental problems can be easily fixed if dental teams are nearby, but despite their important role in military health care, "deployable dental capabilities continue to decline," authors wrote, underscoring an "urgent need for accurate dental emergency modeling in war-gaming to emphasize the importance of [non-battle related injuries] and dental emergencies." Past wars indicate substantial demand.

Dental emergencies accounted for 19% of all treatment at military hospitals near the front lines during the war in Iraq.

Another recent article by Army dentists said that dental disease and other non-battle injuries made up nearly 16% of all medical evacuations among troops fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Almost all dental patients treated by forward dental teams returned to duty after one or two visits, the authors wrote.

Without dental care close to the front, however, soldiers may have to travel farther to receive treatment, potentially removing them from duty for as long as a week.

Casualty evacuations for any type of health concern or injury, major or minor, are likely to pose a problem for the military in future large-scale combat.