A wide range of routine dental care services are provided to dependents of Army personnel residing on certain posts (RDDC posts) while only preventive and emergency dental therapy is afforded dependents living on other installations (PEDDC Posts). The purposes of this three part study were: (1) to obtain a reliable estimate of the dental needs of dependents; (2) to obtain an estimate of the potential costs to Army personnel if all dental care needed by dependents was purchased from civilian sources; (3) to obtain an estimate of the financial burden placed on Army personnel as a result of actually purchasing dental care for dependents from civilian sources; and (4) to determine the dental caries prevalence rates among children attending on-post dependent schools. It is concluded that the cost of purchasing all dental care needed by dependent families from civilian sources would place a greater financial burden on enlisted members than on officers.