Background: Dental carries in adult remains a significant public health problem particularly among military personnel. It is a progressive, irreversible microbial disease of multi-factorial nature affecting the calcified tissues of the teeth characterized by demineralization of the inorganic portion of the tooth. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of dental caries among Military personnel in Shire compound Northern Ethiopia.

Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 22, to March 26, 2019 among 615 military personnel in Shire. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. All relevant dental examinations were done by dental professionals. Data were entered, cleaned and edited using EPI data version 3.5.1 and exported into SPSS version 21 for analysis. Both bi-variable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to test the association between the outcome and independent variables. A p-value<0.05 was considered significant.

Result: Of the 615 participants, 443 (72 %) of them had dental caries with 100% response rate. The major factors associated with dental caries were being male [AOR=8.64, 95% CI: (2.55-29.33)], non officer in the military rank [AOR= 7.31, 95% CI: (1.72-31.06)], being primary school in educational level [AOR= 9.42, 95% CI: (7.13-8.85)], being having low monthly income [AOR =7.26, 95% CI: (3.41-15.47)],  cigarette smoking habit [AOR = 5.37, 95% CI: (1.66-17.33)],  alcohol drinking habit [AOR = 2.33, 95% CI: (1.95-4.55)], drinking sugar with coffee habit [AOR =0.10, 95% CI: (.03-0.42)] and soft drink dental caries with regard to age, marital status, religion, chat chewing and drinking sugar tea habit.

Conclusion and recommendation: The prevalence of dental caries was higher in the study area as compare to the WHO recommendation. Military rank, sex ,educational status, monthly income, cigarette smoking habit, alcohol drinking habit, drinking sugar with coffee and soft drinking habit was found to be the factors associated with dental caries presence. Strengthening compressive and strategic health education should be provided at each level to improve the dental health status of the militarily personnel.

Key words: Dental caries, prevalence, military personnel, Shire.