Oral Health Program

Because of its contribution to the large decline in cavities in the United States since the 1960s, the CDC named community water fluoridation one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. In 2014, Los Angeles County (LAC) Department of Public Health's Oral Health Program (OHP) estimated that 58% of Angelenos have access to optimally fluoridated water. The primary objective of the LAC community water fluoridation mapping project was to update the OHP’s spatial understanding of the current water fluoridation landscape, as it relates to dental services access and oral disease prevalence. A geodatabase was created including the following feature classes: fluoridation levels per water system (collected and verified through publicly available consumer confidence reports and water quality reports, and technical assistance from the California State Water Resources Control Board and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California), water systems boundary tool layer provided by the California Environmental Health Tracking Program, and LAC incorporated city 2016 census data. The updated geospatial analysis of incorporated LAC cities showed that 62% of Angelenos have access to optimally fluoridated water as of 2019. Because of this data, the LAC-OHP is able to help inform state and community partners, who mobilize key community water systems to adjust the level of fluoride to achieve optimal prevention of tooth decay; this will help reduce rates of tooth decay disparities in LAC.