title: Oral health survey of the military personnel deployed to the southernmost provinces of Thailand.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental problems are some of the major health problems of deployed miilitaly personnel. There have been no systematically reports of oral health information survey among the deployed military personnel in Thailand.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was to determine the oral health problems of the deployed military personnel and effects on personnel fitness.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study and a cluster sampling were conducted during April 2011 and March 2013. The Royal Thai Army (RTA) personnel 12 out of21 task forces in southern most provinces were invited to participate in the study. A standardized questionnaire was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 2,884 RTA deployed personnel voluntarily participated and completed the questionnaire infonnrmation. Their mean age was 27.8 +/- 9.4 years old. Fifty percent admitted that they had oral problems during the past six months and the most common ones were toothache/hypersensitivity (32.4%), and dental caries (21.5%). The majority of the participants (60.7%) reported that they experienced oral health problems less than 3 times and 2.8% reported sick leave during deployment because of oral conditions. 64.4% reported that their oral problems affected their quality of life and disturbed their duties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A relatively high prevalence oforal health problems was reported by the deployed RTA personnel. The problems affected their quality of life and assigned duties. Most ofthe problems were neglected. In order to keep the RTApersonnel fit for deployment, an effective dental health program should be developed.
authors.forename: Sirikarn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sutthavong
authors.forename: Supak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ukritchon
authors.forename: Ram
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rangsin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology