Comparing annual dental utilization rates of active duty U.S. military personnel and their employed civilian cohorts.

This study compares annual dental utilization rates between a representative sample of active duty U.S. military personnel (N = 11,765) and a national sample of employed U.S. civilians (N = 10,798). Military data were collected between April 1994 and January 1995 at 26 sites using self-administered questionnaires on a prestratified, random sample of Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine personnel. Women and blacks were oversampled. Civilian data are from the most recent U.S. oral health survey of working adults. Results show that annual dental utilization rates of service members exceed those of their employed civilian cohorts. Overall, 86% of active duty military personnel have seen a dentist in the past year versus barely half of employed civilians. For service members, annual dental utilization is invariant across age, sex, race, education, branch of service, and rank. Dental health class and perceived need for dental care are inversely related to annual dental utilization.