Dental Health Command-Europe (DHCE)

Activated in 1994, Dental Health Command-Europe (DHCE), formerly known as the Europe Regional Dental Command (ERDC), is a subordinate unit of the United States Army Regional Health Command-Europe, with both units located at Sembach Germany. DHCE’s mission is to ensure the Dental readiness of all active duty military personnel stationed in U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) and to provide peacetime community dental care. With the mandatory reduction in American military overseas presence under the Conventional Forces Europe Treaty, dental activities in Europe were reduced from eleven to three. Located in Heidelberg, the former ERDC headquarters oversaw command and control functions of the three dental activities; Landstuhl, Heidelberg and Wuerzberg. In 2008, the Wuerzburg DENTAC headquarters relocated to its current home in Vilseck and reflagged. In 2013, the ERDC headquarters relocated from Heidelberg to Sembach as part of the Heidelberg closure and medical realignment and closed the Heidelberg DENTAC. The two remaining DENTACs have 750 personnel working in sixteen dental facilities throughout Germany, Italy and Belgium. With the success of the dental "Go First Class" initiative, USAREUR's dental wellness and readiness rates are the highest in the U.S. Army. To date, the DHCE team has performed over 500,000 procedures, deployed 36 dental professionals in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, and supported the successful deployment and redeployment of countless USAREUR units.