Dental status of New Zealand Defence Force personnel

No epidemiological data are available on the dental health of New Zealand Defence Force personnel.

To describe the oral health status of serving personnel and new entrants in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF).

The dental records of 4,380 personnel were transcribed from an electronic archive of individual clinical data. Twenty defined codes were used to record the dental status at their last annual examination and first entrant examination. This study evaluated the dental status of 2000 randomly-selected serving personnel and of all 2,380 new recruits over the period 2004 to 2006.

Among the serving personnel, 88% had a full complement of natural teeth. Fifty-two percent of erupted teeth were sound. Fifty-six percent of the remaining teeth had been restored with amalgam or composite material; 25% were missing (or unerupted), and 19% were distributed between the remaining 10 status codes. Some 55 dentures were recorded (0.2% of total codes). Among the new entrants, 90% had a full complement of natural teeth; 72% of those teeth were recorded as sound. Among the other 28%, 46% had been restored with amalgam or composite material, 36% were missing or unerupted, and 19% were distributed between the remaining 10 status codes. Thirteen dentures were recorded (0.2% of total codes).

This first epidemiological evaluation of the dental status of NZDF personnel revealed an encouraging standard of dental health among serving personnel and new entrants. Overall, we believe that the dental needs or demands of the majority of NZDF personnel are unlikely to interfere with their operational tasks.