Risk of dental disease non-battle injuries and severity of dental disease in deployed U. S. Army personnel

Abstract

Dental Disease and Non-Battle Injuries (D-DNBI) continue to be a problem among U.S. Army activeduty (AD), U.S. Army National Guard (ARNG), and U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) deployed soldiers to Operation IraqiFreedom/Operation New Dawn in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. A previous study reported theannual rates to be 136 D-DNBI per 1,000 personnel for AD, 152 for ARNG, and 184 for USAR. The objectives of thisstudy were to describe D-DNBI incidence and to determine risk factors for dental encounters and high severitydiagnoses for deployed soldiers. The 78 diagnoses were classified into three categories based on severity. Poissonregression was used to compare D-DNBI rates and logistic regression was used to analyze the risk of high severity DDNBI.In both campaigns, Reserve had a higher risk of D-DNBI than active duty. For Afghanistan, ARNG and USARdemonstrated over 50% increased risk of D-DNBI compared to AD. In Iraq, USAR had a 17% increased risk over AD.Females had a higher risk of D-DNBI (>50%) compared to males in both campaigns. High severity D-DNBI made up2.77% of all diagnoses. Within Afghanistan, there was a 4.6% increased risk of high severity D-DNBI for eachadditional deployment month.