ORAL HEALTH-PROBLEMS AND TREATMENT NEEDS IN DANISH MILITARY PERSONNELRECRUITED FOR UNITED-NATIONS SERVICE

A group of 223 men from the Danish Army designated to serve in the Uni ted Nations forces in the former Yugoslavia were examined to determine their oral health status and estimate their needs for dental treatmen t and the related dental treatment time. The population studied consis ted of privates (63%), noncommissioned officers (28%), and officers (9 %). About 80% of the population was younger than 28 years. Among the p ersons older than 27 years, 29% had not consulted a dentist within the past 3 years. Subjective symptoms were recorded in 19% of the study p opulation; The average number of teeth per person was 29.52, and none had removable dentures, Only 5 had a decayed-missing and filled surfac es value of zero, The officers had almost twice as many untreated dent al caries as the privates and the noncommissioned officers, The dental fitness of 52% permitted immediate service. Among the remaining 48% ( N = 107), 2 needed extensive treatment and 105 needed some cariologica l and/or periodontal treatment, The estimated dental treatment time of the population was 185 hours, examination time included.