Background: Dental problems are some of the major health problems of deployed military 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.
Material and Method: A cross-sectional study and a cluster sampling were conducted during April 2011 and March 2013.
The Royal Thai Army (RTA) personnel 12 out of 21 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 information. 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.
Conclusion: A relatively high prevalence of oral health problems was reported by the deployed RTA personnel. The problems affected their quality of life and assigned duties. Most of the problems were neglected. In order to keep the RTA personnel fit for deployment, an effective dental health program should be developed.

Keywords: Oral health, Oral survey, Deployed military personnel, Southern most provinces, Thailand