civilian dentists in a civil service status at each of the district headquarters. At the request of DepHiComTerPacls, the Office of In-

dustrial Relations of the Navy Department, on October 27, 1947,
established seven positions with the classification “Dentist, P-4,” at a

vearly salary of $6127.50, later raised to $6540.00.7. One dentist each
wasto be stationedat Saipan, Truk and Ponape and two each at Koror
and Majuro. Useof civilian dentists was plannedas a stop gap measure
to provide necessary dental treatment for a five year period whenit
was hopedthat indigenous dental practitioners, then being trained at
Guam, would be able to take over the dental care of the people.
Recruitment of civilian dentists proved difficult. Lack of living
facilities for families required that the dentists be unmarried and a
dental program which for some time had of necessity to consist chiefly
of emergency treatment offered small chance of professional improvement. By the end of 1948, five dentists were in the area and early in
1949 one of them returned to the United States. Two indigenous
dentists who hadbeen trained bythe Japanese were eventually licensed
and practiced on Saipan and Truk. At the close of the period of
naval administration, one nonindigenouscivilian dentist was stationed
at Koror, one at Ponape and two at Majuro.
General supervision of the Trust Territory dental program was the
responsibility of the ComMarianas Staff Dental Officer who had additional duty on the HiComTerPacls Staff. Immediate supervision and
direction of the civilian dentists employed in the field was the responsibility of the Senior Medical Officer at each civil administration unit.
Micronesians were employedby the public health departmentsofall
civil administration units and paid from Trust Territory funds. A
very few indigenes were medical and dental practitioners who had
received their training prior to World War II; late in the period of
naval administration a few medical and dentalassistants, trained at the

schools on Guam,returned to theislands to serve their internships and

several graduate nurses were employed in the dispensaries. The
greater number of indigenous employees were health, dental and
nurses aides, trained both to care for the ill and improve the sanitation
of their islands.*
* Encl (A) te DepHiComTerPacls ltr ser 1568 dtd 30 Oct 48.
*See tables pp. 873-4.

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