The actual selection of respondents was done at each installation based on criteria established for stratification and

under conditions which assured randomness. In all, 5,024 military and 4,656 civilian personnel participated in the

survey.

Participants' responses to the objective-type questionnaire items were edited and run through a computer to prepare programmed tabulations for analysis. Additionally,

personal remarks submitted by the respondents were reviewed

and categorized.

ANALYSIS

An important consideration throughout the analysis of the survey data was the underlying fact that civilian dental care is an individual elective action. An individual must

recognize the need for dependent dental care, be motivated to fulfill the need, and resolve, within the constraints of other obligations and circumstances to act at a particular time. Under pressed financial conditions, children's dental care may take precedence over a wife's dental needs and minor or partial treatment may be undertaken in lieu of obtaining more extensive care. In the case of a serviceman, he may procrastinate or justify putting off required dependent dental care until assigned to a location where the benefits of free dental care are available for his dependents.

Moreover, the influence of socio-economic, demographic and

cultural determinants is appreciable.

It has been well docu

mented that individuals in the higher income brackets, tnose with a higher educational level, and permanent residents of large communities provide more dental care for their dependents than others.. Recent studies have also shown that

women obtain dental care more frequently than men, whites

more than non-whites, and that patterns of dental care vary 3,4

with age.

In order to facilitate the analysis of responses, military
and civil service grades were combined into three Grade
Groups according to base pay as shown in Appendix B.
Dependents, excluding wives, were similarly categorized
into age groups 0-4, 5-14, 15-20 and 21-23. These groups
corresponded directly to those used in studies of dental
care by the National Center for Health Statistics and the
American Dental Association. Additionally, consideration
was given to the family unit, the regional area location and
the length of residence at that location at the time of the

4

U.S. Public Health Service, National Center for Health Statistics. Volume of Dental Visits, United States: July 1963 - June 1964, Series 10 Number 23. Washington, D.C., 1964.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

1. UTILIZATION OF CARE

The initial analysis of survey results was to establish the need for dental care and the degree to which that need was satisfied. This necessitated an analysis of such topics as the specific types of dental care required and received, and the problems associated with the acquisition of dental ser

vices.

An overall view of the acquisition of dental care for dependents provided by Table 1 shows that 17% of the military and 19% of the civilian sample asserted that care was not required last year for their dependents. Another 54% of the military and 67% of the civilian sample were able to obtain required care for their dependents. Although approximately the same proportion of each subpopulation indicated an absence of need for dental care, the margin of difference widens significantly when one considers actual acquisition of care required; twice as many military dependents as civilian dependents did not get the care they needed last year. This is reported as 29% and 14% for military and civilian samples respectively.

This table further shows that in every instance, when broken out by Grade Group, military respondents claimed a substantially higher proportion of dependent dental care required but not obtained than their civilian counterparts. This

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proportion was twice as high for respondents in Grade Group II and III and three times as high for men in Grade Group I. On the other hand, in military Grade Group III the incidence of required dental care not obtained was twice as high as for military in Grade Group I. This discrepancy was even more pronounced between civilians in Grade Group III and I.

Cost of dental care was plainly the main reason for not obtaining the needed care as pointed out in Table 2. Here again there is a direct relationship with Grade Group. As might be anticipated, the higher the income group the proportionately less response was given to cost as a reason for not obtaining care. The total military, however, indicate cost as a reason to a greater extent (80% to 72%) than their civilian counterparts.

In this regard, but to a much lesser extent (12% for military and 19% for civilians) 'some other reason' was given as a response. An explanation of these "other reasons" is discussed further along in this section from an analysis of comments made by respondents. It is also interesting to observe from this Table that people in Group I indicate "availability of appointmert" as a significant reason and that military in this group, to a greater degree than all others, demonstrated a "lack of confidence in local dentists".