What is the rationale for excluding dental from VA care?

People get cancer and a hundred other things from their own actions and just from being human so your explanation does not seem to hold water. Why one and not the other especially when dental health effects every thing else.

That is literally the reasoning. When a majority of dental issues are preventable, the cost turns to the patient. I pay for dental insurance for my family while on active duty and still have to fork out hundreds of dollars. Having served for quite a while longer than you, I can assure you that this mentality of having things given to you just because you’re a veteran is what’s wrong with the veteran community..PFC David Eichner

PFC David Eichner - There is no need to be abrasive.

Can you tell me how the process works?

You can go through the VA clinic and get referred for dental service, most is done on the civilian side and usually takes from 3 to 4 months for the service to get approved for whatever work that you need. The civilian dental clinic sends the VA the work that needs to be done and that is what takes time. They will do all the way up to dental implants . Some VA clinics have there own dental service but not many.

I think you are misinterpreting what the VA is for. The VA provides medical services for injuries or conditions that occurred while serving, not for conditions that occur once separated PFC David Eichner

SSG (Join to see) exactly what I was trying to say as well.

The VA is not Welfare for Vets, they have a mission to help people who are injured in service, not to take care of everyone who ever served until they die

How does one conclude injury if symptoms don't show up for 20 years? I was 82 airborn and lost my hearing in a winter night jump, never knew how bad until later. I had hard landings as well as slammed against a C-130 testing a jump door which i did not know until 30 years later the cartilage in my neck was destroyed and yet i can't prove it.

PFC David Eichner by going to sick call when you get hurt in order to establish a service connected relationship. Unfortunately there are so many fakers out there that the VA has to be this anal retentive about proving the connection. Sworn statements from other people can sometimes be used as well.

I'm sorry but if you didn't have symptoms for 30 years it probably wasn't the injury that caused your neck cartilage to be destroyed, that's one of those things that just comes with age and physical labor. As for the hearing, these days we get a hearing test every year so it's easy to prove if we have hearing loss. Being in a C130 for any length of time will definitely make you deaf