Although U.S. troops’ dental readiness has improved some over the last decade, there’s also been a decline in the percentage of troops with the best dental health, according to new Defense Department statistics.

From 2014 to 2024, the percentage of troops with the worst levels of dental health decreased from 8.3% to 6.3%, while the percentage of troops with the best dental health dropped from 48.9% to 44.8%, DOD officials stated in a late September memo to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

The memo, reviewed by Military Times, comes in response to Warren’s letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this year seeking answers on how potentially ending fluoride use in drinking water, as championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could undermine military re

See Full Page