Armed Forces: Dental Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel were categorised as NATO dental fitness Category (a) 2, (b) 3 and (c) 4 on the basis that they needed dental care or treatment in order to be fully deployable in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones
The following table provides the numbers of UK Armed Forces personnel categorised as NATO Category 2, 3 and 4, as at 1 April each year from 1 April 2015 to April 2025:
NATO Category | 2 | 3 | 4 |
2015 | 10,096 | 8,015 | 28,767 |
2016 | 9,893 | 6,948 | 22,478 |
2017 | 9,496 | 6,081 | 19,435 |
2018 | 10,409 | 6,306 | 23,712 |
2019 | 9,966 | 6,421 | 18,066 |
2020 | 10,005 | 7,261 | 19,927 |
2021 | 13,237 | 13,523 | 43,947 |
2022 | 13,318 | 12,348 | 26,962 |
2023 | 11,451 | 10,687 | 23,358 |
2024 | 17,221 | 12,283 | 21,699 |
2025 | 21,461 | 13,742 | 20,870 |
Personnel categorised as NATO Category 2 and 3 are those who require either preventative or interventive treatment to achieve optimal dental fitness.
Personnel categorised as NATO Category 4 are those who require a periodic dental examination, have an undetermined dental status, or have missing or incomplete dental records.
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