Assessing the dental treatment needs of an adult Israeli military population.

The dental treatment needs of an adult population (career army personnel, Israeli Defence Forces, aged 20 to 46) were determined. A method is described for quantitating total restorative, endodontic, oral surgical, periodontal, and prosthetic treatment needs. The amount, and in some categories the complexity, of treatment required per person increased in proportion to age. The estimated time required per adult (all ages) to complete all dental treatments was approximately 10.5 h, including 1 h for dental hygiene therapy. These data permit calculation of cost and professional personnel needed to treat this population.