The 1973 Skylab space expeditions were the first series of manned flights into earth orbit and during this time astronauts made use of different modern dental equipment while in space. Adequate dental care became part of the in flight medical support system or IMSS developed by the military dentists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA mainly for the Skylab missions. Modern dental equipment during the Skylab missions served the three man crews for each of the three flights that were launched with each flight lasting about 4 to 8 weeks on the average.
The dental equipment was intended to have the purpose of treating any ailments that could be dealt with on an outpatient basis according to one military dentist. All expeditions made use of modern equipment that in no way compared with any first aid buddy kit. There is a one percent risk that dental treatment might be needed for any of the three man crews that will be sent into space for 28 days and this is where the treatment concepts at that time were based upon. The onset of pulpitis or periodontal abscess can lead to the inefficiency of one astronaut and these are examples of the dental problems which carry a one percent risk.
For minor dental problems like chipped teeth and the like the risk is at five percent per trip. Some of the tools included in the dental equipment for the IMSS as this article will talk about are syringes and anesthetic, a Gigli saw, removal forceps, and selvage gauze. NASA earned a helping hand in the form of the Air Force den corps as they created special restorative material that complied with in flight specifications. The formulation allowed it to be mixed even with zero gravity.
After much success from the equipment testing process the flight crews were subjected to two days of intensive training for them to have the ability to use the equipment after the launch. No program attempted to train the flight crews regarding dental procedures which come to be more complicated than removing teeth making the sessions a tad limited. Aboard the space craft will be an integrated manual containing pertinent information on diagnosis and illustrated procedural guides not to mention an oral structure image for each crew member sourced from their personal radiographs.
In mission control, a dentist will be available with diagnostic casts, complete periapical and panoramic radiographs, color photos of each astronaut’s mouth, complete records of each astronaut’s dental status, plus narrative summaries of all dental treatment provided the astronauts since 1966. Every space mission requires an extensive use of space to ground conversation and in this case procedures cannot simply be done without the approval of an on ground dental officer.
Although it seems as if they will need to gamble on the skills of the non dentists to safely perform dental procedures in space there is still much practicality in providing the necessary training and some people fail to consider this aspect. Even if one of the crew members experiences much pain they may not be given much sympathy for their agonizing ordeal when a space mission is threatened especially when the people lose millions in the process. There has been much debate on the program and so they have agreed upon resorting to the procedures if there are no other options left.
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