JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
A new course has been added to the catalog of courses taught by the Medical Education and Training Campus, headquartered on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
The transfer of functions and assets for the Dental Laboratory Technician, Maxillofacial (MAXILLO) course – to include the administrative move of personnel, equipment, support functions, and curriculum oversight – have moved from the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery to METC, which falls under the Defense Health Agency. The transfer followed more than a year-long transition process that began in January 2023 and continued after entering initial operating capability on October 1, 2023. Personnel from several BUMED and DHA organizations representing different departments worked together to ensure a smooth transition.
With the addition of the MAXILLO course, METC facilitates 49 courses to provide world class enlisted medical training to support mission readiness in peacetime and war.
Located at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Md., the MAXILLO course is classified as a branch campus due to its distance from METC headquarters. The six-month course trains Navy and sometimes Air Force students in the handling of prosthodontic materials and equipment, as well as special materials and equipment for making replacements, or prosthetics, for missing portions of the head, neck, and other parts of the body, surgical splints, and stents.
All enlisted Navy medical students are trained as hospital corpsmen at METC in San Antonio before they can attend “C” school, or advanced training, in medical or dental career fields.
The basic and advanced Dental Laboratory Technology course, prerequisites to attend the MAXILLO course, are also taught at METC and is one of the main reasons for the decision to integrate it at METC.
As a METC course, MAXILLO will receive institutional accreditation by the Council on Occupational Education, earn recommended college credit from the American Council on Education, and qualify for college credit through the METC Degree Bridge program. Eventually, graduates will also be eligible to earn college credit from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ College of Allied Health Sciences.
The Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) is a multi-service, enlisted medical training facility for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard students. METC provides world class enlisted medical training to support mission readiness in peacetime and war.