Periodontal Health Status in a Cohort of US Naval Personnel

Every member of the Navy and Marine Corps is provided an annual dental examination. A required element of the examination is the documentation of the status of the periodontium using the Periodontal Screening and Recording (PSR) index. Due to time constraints during recruit training, a modified PSR that uses the probing depths of only one tooth per sextant is performed at the initial inprocessing examination. According to the Navy’s Oral Disease Risk Management guidelines, a PSR score of “4” in any sextant indicates the necessity for referral to a periodontist for further evaluation. Objective: To determine the percentage of naval personnel who exhibit periodontal pockets of sufficient depth to have at least one PSR score of “4.” Methods: During 2001-2002, a cluster sample of dental records from 739 personnel who entered Naval service in 1997 was drawn from eight Navy dental clinics located in the continental U.S. Dental records were digitized and reviewed. For each patient, data concerning the PSR scores recorded at each required dental examination during the four-year observational period (1997-2001) were collected. Results: The mean age at entry into the military of this cohort was 21 years. Over the four-year observational period, 7% of all personnel had at least one examination at which a PSR score of “4” was documented, while 34% had at least one score of “3”. Conclusions: Nearly one-half of this young cohort exhibits early signs of periodontal disease. To halt the destruction of the periodontal structures in these individuals, preventive services and periodontal therapy should be provided early in their naval careers.