Oral Health Profile in Iranian Armed Force: Focusing on Prevention Strategies

Oral health is a major element of general health. Dental caries, periodontal diseases and oropharyngeal cancers are among the major health challenges in developed and developing countries. This study aimed to evaluate the oral health indices, including the decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) and periodontal indices, oral diseases and other related variables in Iranian military forces. In this cross-sectional study, 420 active-duty male individuals were selected from the Iranian ground force (GF), Air Force (AF), Navy, marine and submarine (NY) and the commander general headquarters (CG). A WHO-approved and regionally validated questionnaire was used and clinical observation was performed based on a standard protocol. The mean age of the participants was 34.76 (± 8.16) years. The mean DMFT for the total groups was 9.67 (± 5.34) and 3.3% of them were caries-free, while 21.9% of the cases had root caries. The mean number of existing teeth was 25.4 (± 3.26). Among 11760 teeth that were examined, 9.73% had caries. The mean healthy sextant was 2.58% per person, while 45.5% of sextants had calculus. A community periodontal index was equal to 3 in 49.6% of the individuals. No history of oral health education was reported in 66% of the study group and the frequency of systematic disease comorbidities was 24.7%. Navy, in particular, had a greater oral health problems compared to other forces. For instance, 91.7% of all participants from Navy had calculus at least in one sextant. Periodontal pockets were also reported in more than 40.4% of the Navy forces. Interestingly, there was a significant and direct association between cardiovascular diseases and DMFT (P = 0.014) after adjustment for age. Although, oral health profile for Iranian military units was better than the civilian population, Improvements in prevention services, oral health education and periodontal treatments are essential in the Iranian armed forces, particularly in Navy and Air-Force.