Abstract

Water Fluoridation Status in Los Angeles County Cities
Track: Health and Human Services
Authors: Maritza Cabezas, Fred Dominguez, MD, MPH

Los Angeles County has nearly 10 million residents which covers 4,000 square miles. The county has a very complex water system and it is impossible to visualize the areas that are receiving optimally fluoridated, sub-optimally fluoridated and non-fluoridated water. GIS mapping enables public health dentists to determine the water fluoridation status of different cities in Los Angeles County. Additionally, pediatricians in order to prescribe fluoride supplements need to know the fluoridation status of their patients' drinking water. This map will aid them in determining if it is necessary to prescribe fluoride supplements. In creating this map we used city boundaries from DPH's eGIS database where we joined fluoride water status. Population size was obtained from the American Community Survey and joined to fluoride water status and cities. In addition we used the spatial analysis tool, "cluster-outlier tool (Hot Spot) to observe the magnitude of cities that were non-fluoridated.