A comparison of dental fitness classification using different class 3 criteria

Examinations were performed on 585 Army Reserve Component soldiers during their 2-week Annual Training at Fort Pickett, Virginia, from June through September 1991. Of the 585 soldiers examined, 338 (57.8%) were in class 3 using the current DoD criteria, while 272 (46.5%) were in class 3 using the previous criteria. Of 585 paired examinations, there was agreement between the two systems in 531 (90.8%) examinations. Over 96% of the disagreement represented patients put in class 2 under the old system who were put in class 3 under the new system. In the aggregate, there were 19.3% more soldiers put into class 3 under the new system. The major source of this difference was partially erupted or pericoronally involved third molars. The increase in the class 3 proportion is due to the lack of operational criteria in the old system. Data collected under the current system provide more detailed information for administrative epidemiologic purposes. Because of the additional clinical guidelines under the current DoD criteria, the inevitable differences should be considered when pre- and post-DoD instruction dental fitness classification data are compared for a population.