Armed Forces: Dental Services
(asked on 21st October 2025) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
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.
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.