First-term dental readiness.

Army recruits have high levels of dental disease, and traditionally the dental needs of soldiers have not been addressed until the soldiers arrive at their first permanent duty station. Today's expeditionary Army requires that soldiers be fully deployable. This article addresses an initiative (called First-Term Dental Readiness) aimed at providing dental care in the initial training of a soldier's career, implementation of pilot programs at Fort Sill and Fort Knox, and the lessons learned from those pilot programs.

Digital dental radiography needs assessment utilizing the Delphi process.

This article reports the results of a needs assessment using the Delphi process. The purpose of this study was to determine the architecture and equipment (radiographic and computer network) for establishing and supporting an enterprise's vast digital dental radiographic program. Two panels of subject matter experts identified the needs for a digital dental radiography system; one expert panel consisted of dentists while the other panel's members were information management/information technology (IM/IT) experts. Panelists rated digital dental radiography needs using descriptive statistics and a 7-point bipolar scale. Among dentists, the four most important needs were the capability to store images, image appearance, centralized image storage, and a dedicated back-up server; among IM/IT panelists, they were ensuring HIPAA compliance, use of a standard formatting procedure, excellent print quality, and use of encryption for data transmission. This study's findings are useful for any organization seeking to initiate or improve its own digital radiography program.

Staffing model for dental wellness and readiness.

Oral health is an integral part of general health. Previous research has shown that untreated oral conditions can result in increased rates of disease and nonbattle injury for deployed soldiers. The purpose of this study was to develop models for U.S. Army dental wellness and readiness using a multivariate regression analysis approach. Staffing levels and dental wellness and readiness rates were examined for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2002 at 40 Army installations. Full regression model equations were developed for percent dental wellness and readiness using location, time, dental provider types, and basic training installation as predictor variables. Both models were shown to be statistically significant, with wellness R2 = 0.37, F12,107 = 5.18, p < 0.001 and readiness R2 = 0.23, F12,107 = 2.65, p < 0.01. Further tests of specific predictor effects revealed that wellness was significantly associated with the specialties of general dentistry, hygienists, and oral surgery, and that readiness was significantly associated with region and the oral surgery specialty. Results may be useful for the U.S. Army to identify the best practices in an effort to optimize dental wellness and readiness.