By John Balch
News-Leader staff
NORTH LITTLE ROCK – There are only two rooms and two chairs, but those two things will go a long way in getting and keeping Arkansas Army National Guard soldiers ready to do their jobs, said Col. Dr. Glenn Lance of Nashville about the recently opened in-house dental clinic at Camp Joseph T. Robinson.
Lance, who is the Army Guard’s highest-ranking dentist, said soldier dental care has “notoriously been the number 1 reason” across the nation that soldiers experience non-deployable status.
“So, dental care is extremely important for us to keep the soldiers out there doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” said Lance, who has operated a private dental practice in Nashville since 1988.
Arkansas becomes just the fourth state National Guard nationwide to authorize Army Guard dentists to treat guardsmen during drills or annual training. The two-chair clinic is designated to “provide dental care to keep soldiers worldwide qualified and dental ready to deploy” and will have the capacity to treat 15 to 20 soldiers a day.
“This is a game changer for the Arkansas Army National Guard,” said Col. Clint Miller, Medical Command Commander during the clinic’s opening ceremony on Dec. 8, 2024. He added that the facility “not only provides us with an additional capability, but it also contains current state-of-the-art equipment that exceeds many current operating civilian clinics.”
Murfreesboro native, Maj. Jarrett Stark, Headquarters Commander of the Army Guard’s Medical Readiness Detachment, called the new clinic “an awesome opportunity” during the opening and added that the soldiers will be under the skilled care of its civilian trained dentist, including Col. Lance and three others. The dentists, seven in total across the state, are all credentialed with the National Guard Bureau.
Lance, 61, said he will mainly supervise three young dentists, who he said he has consistently encourage to be good stewards of those two chairs with hopes of the operation being expanded.
The clinic has been in the works for about two years and Lance said he is confident the addition at Camp Robinson will save the Army Guard time and money.
“We’ll be able to address their dental needs here with our dentists so we won’t have to use contract dentists,” Lance said. “And, we’re going to provide the highest level of care for these soldiers just like we would in our private practices.”
