The map today shows the geographic location of dentists currently practicing in the Dallas, TX area. In the process of conducting our GIS research, we noticed some areas that were heavily populated with oral health services as well as areas that are likely experiencing disparities in oral health care.
To bring awareness to the current health conditions in low-income areas in South-Dallas such as Oakcliff and other communities, the Oral Health Needs Index (OHNI) made an easy-to-access, oral health focused, Geographic Information System (GIS) based tool that allows people to find services based on their environment and resources.
Identifying dental providers who accept Medicaid/Medicare and forms of dental insurance in areas of low socioeconomic status can be difficult but it also essential in tackling disparities. With OHNI, users get a clear visualization of communities with lack of services. Lack of transportation and finding participating providers is a major barrier for low-income and rural populations. Identifying these barriers and how they contribute to health disparities experienced by under-served communities is important. It allows for a better understanding of ways to combat the health disparities in disadvantaged communities.
This is an example of a choropleth map. From the map we can see the percent of teeth that have been extracted due to tooth decay or gum disease for 2006, 2008 and 2010. A large percent of teeth extractions occurred in southern states indicated by the counties in red compared to Western states indicated by the counties in yellow.
This map shows the geographic location of all practicing dentists in the state of Florida by county and the dental ER visits per 1000 in primary care professional shortage areas.
The goal of health technology is to assist in more efficient data collection, increase connectivity, and foresee market changes. A push for a more healthy lifestyle across the United States has lead to an increasing need for innovative ideas that can lead to healthy behavior changes. Even with governmental efforts, life expectancy in the United States has decreased, inequities in healthcare persist in rural communities and healthcare costs are still at an all time high. Developing partnerships between healthcare communities and business technology firms has the possibility to strengthen the development of evidence-based research and HIPAA-compliant clinical resources that can contribute to an improved population health in the United States. Using these firms can also establish more reputable platforms, health analytics, and marketing expertise that could serve beneficial to the current healthcare issues.
GIS Use in Public Health & Healthcare 
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