Dental care provision to UK military personnel serving on Operation Herrick in Afghanistan. Part 1: access to dental care

Aims To assess factors influencing access to dental care and to determine the true level of dental morbidity experienced by UK military personnel serving on Operation Herrick. Methods Data on dental emergencies were collected prospectively over an 18-month period. Deployed personnel were divided into those co-located with a dental centre and those not co-located. Personnel were separately surveyed on return from Operation Herrick; individuals who had suffered an oral/dental problem whilst deployed were asked to complete a questionnaire. Results There were 4,017 dental emergency attendances by 3,355 UK military personnel (282/1,000 man years at risk). A total of 278 non-co-located patients were transported with the sole purpose of seeing a dental officer, 79% by helicopter; a median of 24 hours was lost from their operational role (vs one hour for those co-located). In the cohort surveyed after their return from Afghanistan, 37/118 (31.4%) patients who had wanted to see a dentist whilst deployed did not manage to. Conclusions Dental morbidity is common and can affect operational effectiveness, but this risk is reduced by co-location with a dental centre. There is a substantial component of 'hidden' dental morbidity in deployed personnel. Evaluating dental morbidity using dental centre attendees likely underestimates the true levels by approximately a third.