Regarding Marjorie Cortez's essay "Put body armor before body beautiful" (July 27): I disagree. Cosmetic procedures, as a job benefit for members of the armed forces, is important. Nor are benefits a trade-off for properly equipping soldiers.
I am a civilian, but I was privileged to work in Germany as a civilian contract dentist for the U.S. Army. The vast majority of dental services performed were the minimum required to make soldiers combat-ready. But there were occasions where soldiers (or their dependents) needed more sophisticated procedures, such as porcelain crowns, porcelain veneers, bleaching, implants, bone grafting, orthodontics, jaw surgery, etc. In my experience, the number of recipients of "cosmetic services" was small, but I maintain it should be increased as long as combat readiness is maintained.
Complex and high-quality procedures, though costly in civilian life, are not excessively expensive in the military setting, but the value of the training to both doctors and staff is enormous.
Let's give the soldiers something of value as a partial trade-off for their service to our country.
Richard A. Hadlock, DDS
Sandy