Dental utilization by spouses of active duty U.S. military personnel

This study explores dental utilization and access barriers to dental care for spouses of active duty U.S. military personnel as reported by their military sponsor. It also compares dental utilization of spouses and civilians. The data, collected using self-administered questionnaires between April 1994 and January 1995, are from 5,732 Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine personnel with nonmilitary spouses. Comparative civilian data are from the most recent (1985-1986) U.S. oral health survey of working adults. Results show that dental utilization of military spouses parallels that of civilians. Cost was the most commonly cited barrier to dental care for spouses. Logistic regression results show that the likelihood of a spouse having seen a dentist within the past year is influenced by insurance status, sex, branch of service of sponsor, and rank of sponsor. Insurance status is the strongest predictor of dental utilization for spouses.