all Grade Groups. For Grade Group I, the percentages are 33% vs. 18%; Grade Group II shows 55% vs. 28%; finally, and not surprisingly, Grade Group III recorded the highest degree of financial hardship, 55% vs. 39%. The hardship for the lower income military group in paying for the needed dental care for their families was expressed in an incisive comment by an Air Force Master Sergeant: "Being a Master Sergeant I find it difficult at times A further thought here is that inability to provide preventive dental care at an early age may jeopardize the dependent's health and may accumulate in a compounded fashion the dental care needs of military dependents at a later date. The spectrun of difficulties for both military and civilian by Grade Group in paying for dependent dental care were expressed in qualitative terms in the free response remarks appended by the respondents. The lowest income group expressed substantial difficulty in meeting the costs of sustained and special treatment. The middle-income sample (Grade Group II) had financial difficulty when dental bridge and plate work were required, and Grade Group I, joined in as well, when orthodonture work entered the picture. Representative verbatim comments provided by the respondents on these and other aspects of dependent dental care are presented in the final portion of the report which follows. SELECTED RESPONDENT COMMENTS MILITARY ON AVAILABILITY "Due to the limited civilian dental facilities nearby, my family makes appointments by telephone with a dentist 120 miles away. Appointments are easier to get, and charges are less away from military impacted "Probably the biggest problem I've encountered in Arriving new at the base I had no idea or recommenda- "I would like to see the military provide at least "I feel that the military should supply dependent |