engleski

Influence of oral hygiene on oral health of recruits and professionals in the Croatian army

Good oral health of soldiers would lessen the number of the urgent dental interventions, the absence of the training and the battlefield and improve the security of the whole formation. This study shows the habits of the maintaining of the oral health and the oral status within the examined population in the Croatian army. The data was obtained after the examination and questionnaires of 912 Croatian soldiers, 650 of whom were recruits and 262 professional soldiers of the Croatian Army land forces. The results show that the oral health of the examined population is bad mostly as a consequence of inadequate prevention from the illnesses of the oral cavity associated with insufficient oral hygiene. The most common disease is still dental caries ; 5.84 carious teeth per one recruit, and 2.71 per professional. Only 14 out of 912 examinees (1.53%) had completely healthy teeth. Only 1/3 of the examinees had no bleeding when tested with periodontal probe. Acute pain of odontogenic origin was present in 23.5% of examinees. Such oral health makes most of the soldiers unreliable for the peace operations that would last more than six months because it lowers the degree of their combat readiness. Oral hygiene and oral health are poor. Consequently, the combat readiness is low because of the need for the frequent dental interventions that could further lead to absence from the field and appointed tasks. The results emphasize the need for the obligatory and regular check-ups in order to improve the oral health in Croatian Army.

oral health; urgent dental care; combat readiness; dental caries

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