News Release

November 11, 2026 - Ottawa, ON: In a prisoner-of-war camp, with other Canadian military dental personnel, after their capture in Hong Kong, Sergeant G.F. Paul continued, for four years, to provide dental care to fellow prisoners despite severe shortages of supplies. Trained as a dental technician , he died in captivity on April 21, 1944. His story is among those that the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) honours this Remembrance Day, recognizing the service and sacrifice of Canada’s military dental personnel.

For Colonel Geneviève Bussière, chief dental officer of the Royal Canadian Dental Corps (RCDC) since 2024, those individual lives are at the heart of remembrance. “Remembrance Day is about people,” she says. “I think about the generations who wore our uniform before us, those who served in difficult circumstances, and those who sacrificed everything and never came home.”

“My father, John, was chief instructor with Army Cadet Corps No. 105 in Chatham, New Brunswick, from 1954 to 1959, and served as an instructor in Goose Bay from 1960 to 1966,” says Dr. Kirk Preston, CDA president. “His service gives remembrance a personal meaning for me. As a dentist, I’m proud of our profession’s contribution to the health and well-being of Canada’s military personnel. Remembrance Day is an opportunity to recognize that contribution and ensure these stories of care and service are passed on.”

The history of military dentistry in Canada is closely tied to a practical reality: a service member suffering from dental pain, unable to eat or facing a serious infection may be unable to carry out their duties. Preparing troops and bringing dental care to them while on operations supports their health and wellbeing, can relief suffering and prevent an evacuation and its related risks, helping them remain with their units and respective mandates.

Canada established its military dental service in 1904, following wartime experience that demonstrated how severely dental disease could affect troops. CDA pressed the government to establish a distinct military dental branch, and the Canadian Army Dental Corps was authorized on May 13, 1915. Dental personnel went on to carry out more than two million procedures during the First World War.

“Military dentistry was born from battlefield necessity,” says Col Bussière. “It has always been about preserving fighting strength as much as caring for a soldier’s oral health.”

That responsibility brought dental teams close to combat. During the Second World War, portable equipment and mobile clinics allowed the Corps to bring treatment near the front lines. On D-Day, three dental detachments, each staffed by a dental officer and a dental assistant, supported the field ambulances assigned to the assault. They were prepared to treat facial and jaw injuries, including those that could threaten a casualty’s airway during evacuation.

The work of dental teams in wartimes also carries a human cost. Dental officers and technicians were among those who died during both world wars and in Korea. Their service is part of the legacy carried by today’s RCDC.

That legacy extends beyond caring for the living. Through forensic dentistry, military dental professionals help identify the dead. Dental records became an important means of identifying wartime casualties, and the Corps has contributed its expertise to civilian disasters, including Swissair Flight 111 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since 2011, it has maintained the Canadian Forces Forensic Odontology Response Team, ready to respond to disasters anywhere in the world on short notice.

“The same profession that cares for the oral health and readiness of soldiers also helps bring them home with dignity,” says Col Bussière.

Today, RCDC personnel continue to support Canadian Armed Forces members at home and on deployment. For Col Bussière, their work carries an obligation to remember those who came before them and pass that history to those who will follow.

At formal military mess dinners, remembrance also takes the form of a table setting for those who cannot be present. “The empty chair reminds us of our fallen, missing and imprisoned comrades,” says Col Bussière. “Each element carries meaning: the white tablecloth represents the purity of their intentions in answering the call to duty; the lemon, their bitter fate; and the salt, the tears of the families left behind. The inverted glass reminds us that they cannot join our toast, while the candle keeps their memory and our hope for peace alight.”

Those acts of remembrance honour the people behind the profession. “Behind the RCDC are dental professionals who made a courageous choice: to serve their country while practising their profession,” she says. “When we remember them, I hope we remember not only what they accomplished as dental professionals, but who they were as Canadians, colleagues, military members and people committed to looking after others.”

Learn More

• RCDC History
• Remembrance Day & Veterans' Week
• Commemorative Events
• Recent fallen Canadians

About the Canadian Dental Association
The Canadian Dental Association (CDA) is a trusted national voice for dentists and leader working to improve the oral health of all people living in Canada. We promote oral health, support our members, and advance the dental profession. Founded in 1902, CDA has no regulatory role and is a federally incorporated not-for-profit organization whose corporate members are Canada’s provincial and territorial dental associations (PTDAs). We represent over 21,000 practising dentists nationwide and are a trusted brand and source of information about oral health and the dental profession on national and international issues. 

Media Contact:
Jeff D’Andrea
Media Relations Specialist
Canadian Dental Association
613-614-4798
media@cda-adc.ca