Is a dental health risk assessment predictive of dental health?

A complete dental examination is the basis for identifying the dental readiness of Air Force Reserve Command members. Historically, these were done on an infrequent basis. Recently, an annual dental examination has been mandated for all military members. Current dental personnel manning and resources are not sufficient to accomplish this dramatic increase in dental examination workload. To help alleviate this demand, a Dental Health Risk Assessment questionnaire was developed and tested to see if it could accurately screen out a dental problem severe enough to make a member non-worldwide deployable (Dental Readiness Classification of 3). These members would be scheduled for a dental examination first. The questionnaire asked members to self-identify dental health problems. Their answers were compared with the findings from the military dental examination. Unfortunately, the results did not match the survey's expectation. Accurately predicting who needed to be scheduled for a comprehensive dental examination, based on how a member answered the survey questions, was not accomplished. It is hoped that further research and refinement may make a predictive Dental Health Risk Assessment possible.