Dental sealants: prevalence and need in U.S. military recruits

This paper explores the need for and the prevalence of dental sealants in U.S. military recruits. The data come from the 1994 Tri-Service Comprehensive Oral Health Survey. Data were collected on 2,711 Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy recruits at one recruit in-processing center per service. Women and minorities were oversampled. Both bivariate and logistic regression analysis were done on the need for at least one dental sealant and the prevalence of at least one dental sealant in recruits. Weighted data (101,072) were used for the bivariate analyses; unweighted data were used in the regressions. Results show that 8.7% of recruits need dental sealants and that 14.8% have dental sealants. Need for dental sealants varies across branch of service only, whereas prevalence of dental sealants varies across age, race, and branch of service. The cost-effectiveness of dental sealants in this population should be established.