TITLE:
Root Canals and Crowns: An Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of Dental Offices in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, 1996-2011
AUTHORS:
Patricia J. Boda, James Harris
KEYWORDS:
Cross-Border Health Care; Medical Geography; US-Mexico Border; Dental
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.4 No.6B,
August
22,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Every city above a certain size has health services that
are located, to a large extent, close to their patients. This study analyzes
the spatial distribution of dental office and the change in the number of
dental offices in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico over a 15-year time period.
Research was conducted in 1996 and 2011. Maps showing the location of dental
offices for these two years indicate a clustering of dental offices within one
and one-half miles of the city’s two principal border-crossing points between
the United States and Mexico. Provider-based surveys were also used to determine
the mix of patients (US or Mexican citizens) at the dental offices found
throughout the city. By 2011, nearly all of the dental offices clustered within
one and one-half miles of the two principal US-Mexico border
crossings had 100% of their patients from the United States.