I was wondering if anyone could tell me if poor dental health will keep you from enlisting in the us army?

Answer 1

Things that I know could stop you:
Cancer of the mouth(from smoking or chewing tobacco)
An infection in a cavity if left without treatment can cause serious health problems(including heart attacks)

Answer 2

Yes and service members in all the services are required to maintain a certain standard of dental health or risk administrative punishment. This is for two reasons. First many of the trouble spots that the US military has been involved in since DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM are not very clean or hygienic places and they have many exotic diseases. So it is literally for the service member's health. Secondly it became a huge problem to try and administer needed dental care for personnel deployed for DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM while deployed. The standard that they are expected to maintain now carries with it the expectation that they will need no major dental work for at least six months so that they don't encounter this problem again or have people using it as an excuse to leave the combat theater. So for enlisting the standard may be slightly lower than this but once in you will be expected to see the dentist, attend scheduled appointments and annual checkups, and get your dental heatlh to at least what they call a "Level II profile" and maintain that.

Answer 3

Depending on what you mean by Poor Dental health the answer is yes

Answer 4

I remember a friend of mine trying to enlist many years ago.

His recruiter advised he get his dental work up to date. I recall he spent several weeks in and out of dentist office getting cavities filled.

This information is definitely not up to date. I suggest you talk to a recruiter in your area to get the most up to date info.

Answer 5

not if you can pull um out with pliers your self. Might get a bump up. I did it in the 3rd Grade.