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 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 - ii 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 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. |