Dentistry and Warfare in the First World War

The First World War (1914–1918) transformed the nature of warfare through industrialised combat, trench systems, machine guns, artillery, poison gas, and unprecedented levels of casualties. While historians often focus on military strategy, politics, or battlefield medicine, dentistry also emerged as a critical component of wartime healthcare. The war highlighted the poor dental health of recruits, demonstrated the importance of oral fitness to military effectiveness, and accelerated developments in oral surgery and facial reconstruction. Military dentistry evolved from a relatively neglected profession into an essential branch of military medicine. The conflict also produced a vast number of facial and jaw injuries caused by shrapnel, bullets, and artillery. These injuries required innovative collaboration between dentists, surgeons, and technicians, helping to establish modern maxillofacial surgery and reconstructive dentistry. The First World War therefore represented a turning point in both military medicine and the professionalisation of dentistry. This paper examines the relationship between dentistry and warfare during the First World War by exploring pre-war dental conditions, the emergence of organised military dentistry, trench-related oral disease, reconstructive surgery, technological innovations, and the war’s long-term legacy.