Tri-Service Comprehensive Oral Health Survey. 1994

摘要

This study explores the oral health status, dental treatment needs, dentalreadiness status, dental utilization, ana perceived need for dental care of a random sample of 2,711 Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine recruits. Clinical measures were collected by calibrated examiners; non-clinical data were collected from individual recruits using self-administered questionnaires. Data collection occurred between February and July 1994. Data were weighted by age, sex and race to reflect the entire recruit population during the data collection period and were analyzed using State and Survey Data Analysis (SUDAAN) statistical software. Where possible, oral health outcome measures for military recruits were compared to their employed civilian cohorts. Results show that compared to civilians, military recruits have a higher proportion of decayed teeth and a lower annual dental utilization rate. Only 38.2% of military recruits have seen a dentist within the past year and 61% perceive a need for dental care. Nearly all (99.3%) recruits need some type of dental care with roughly half being in DoD dental readiness class 3. Four-fifths of military recruits require 75 or fewer composite time values of dental care. Treatment needs, dental utilization, and perceived need all vary across demographic characteristics.