Dental care provision to UK military personnel serving on Operation Herrick in Afghanistan. Part 1: access to dental care.

ABSTRACT

Aims: To assess factors influencing access to dental care and to determine the true level of dental morbidity experienced by UK military personnel serving on Operation Herrick. Methods: Data on dental emergencies were collected prospectively over an 18-month period. Deployed personnel were divided into those co-located with a dental centre and those not co-located. Personnel were separately surveyed on return from Operation Herrick; individuals who had suffered an oral/dental problem whilst deployed were asked to complete a questionnaire. Results: There were 4,017 dental emergency attendances by 3,355 UK military personnel (282/1,000 man years at risk). A total of 278 non-co-located patients were transported with the sole purpose of seeing a dental officer, 79% by helicopter; a median of 24 hours was lost from their operational role (vs one hour for those co-located). In the cohort surveyed after their return from Afghanistan, 37/118 (31.4%) patients who had wanted to see a dentist whilst deployed did not manage to. Conclusions: Dental morbidity is common and can affect operational effectiveness, but this risk is reduced by co-location with a dental centre. There is a substantial component of 'hidden' dental morbidity in deployed personnel. Evaluating dental morbidity using dental centre attendees likely underestimates the true levels by approximately a third.