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SURVEY OF DEPENDENT DENTAL CARE

BRIEF

Military personnel and Civil Service employees at 50 Department

of Defense installations in continental United States were

surveyed in December 1967 in orâcr to determine and compare their personal experiences in acquiring and paying for dental care required by their dependents during the past year.

Four major findings emerged from the survey:

The transient status of military families generated
difficulties both in the selection of civilian den-
tists and in the execution of dependent dental care
programs. This impermanent association with the
community was instrumental in producing greater
difficulties vis-a-vis their civilian counterparts
in obtaining dental care and achieving rapport with
a dentist insofar as arranging appointments, arriv-
ing at mutually agrecable dental fees, and working
out payment schedules were concerned.

With certain constraints, military and civilian spon

sors in the higher income groups and most civilians

in the lower grades generally demonstrated a capability

of providing the dental care prescribed for their

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dependents. However, military personnel in the lower enlisted ranks evidenced serious difficulties in this

regard, and the overall percentage of military shortfall in providing needed care was twice that of

Civil Service families.

Although little differences were found proportionally
between the type of care received by military and civi-
lian dependents, there is a striking distinction bet-
ween the income groups in the nature of treatment
received. The higher the grade group the more likely
that the dependent obtained prophylactic and special
care; the lower the income group, for both military
and civilian, the more likely that extractions, surgery
or the relief of pain was the occasion for a dental

visit.

The cost of dental treatment is clearly the greatest single obstacle to the fulfillment of dependent needs. This factor diminishes as the sponsor's income increases, but whichever grade group is considered, the military respondents experienced proportionately more difficulty

than the civilians in meeting the demands of dental

costs. Universally, orthodontic work was claimed by

the respondents as the most difficult to provide for their dependents because of cost.

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