Dental health promotion and preventive dentistry practices of US Army dentists

In May 1997, all Army dentists assigned full-time to clinical duties (1,100 ) were sent a mail survey that queried how often they deliver dental health promotion and preventive dentistry services and the type and source of the ir patient educational materials. By August, 606 dentists had responded. Si mple frequencies were generated using SPSS. Results show that tobacco, oral hygiene, and periodontal counseling and oral cancer and blood pressure scr eening are delivered frequently, whereas nursing caries, mouthguard, sealan t, and nutrition services are delivered infrequently. Army dentists relied almost exclusively on oral presentations to deliver health promotion messag es. Few used more than one source for health promotion materials. These res ults suggest that the delivery of dental health promotion and preventive de ntistry services in the Army is suboptimal. A campaign to heighten provider awareness of the importance of delivering these services should be launche d. The campaign should also teach providers how to make their health promot ion efforts maximally effective through the application of proven health ma rketing techniques.