This document provides instruction for public health dental practitioners on finding and evaluating oral health and general health statistics and data from various sources. It outlines the purpose of providing these resources, defines common health statistics, and lists specific national, state/local, and international websites that contain oral health and general health data tools and statistics relevant to public health dental practice.

1. Toolkit for Dental
Health Professionals
Oral Health Information
Tutorial for Dental
Evidence-Based Dental Public Health
Public Health
Professionals
Data Tools and Statistics
Patient Information Purpose: Provides instruction for public health dental
practitioners that focuses on finding and evaluating
information relevant to public health dental practice.
This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human
Services, under Contract No. N01-LM-6-3505 under the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library.

2. Oral Health Data Tools
and Statistics

3. Objectives
 Develop a basic understanding of the types of
statistics and data sets that are available related to
oral health
 Identify oral health related web resources with data
sources and statistics for use at the local, state,
national and international levels

4. What are health statistics?
 The most common statistics reported are:
-vital (birth, death, marriage, divorce rates)
-morbidity (incidence of oral cancer in a population)
-mortality (the number of people who die of oral cancer
compared with the total number of people)
 Other common statistical data are health care costs and
demographic distribution of disease based on geographic,
ethnic, and gender variables
For more information about health statistics, see MedlinePlus: Health Statistics

5. Oral Health Statistics and Data: National Level
 CDC Division of Oral Health
 U.S. Department of health and Human
Services Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention National Center for Health
Statistics- fast stats A to Z, Oral and Dental
Health

6. Oral Health Statistics and Data: State/Local Level
 Bexar County Health Collaborative
2006 Oral Health Assessment Data
 National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and

7. General Health Statistics and Data: International Level
 World Health Organization (WHO) Statistical Information System (WHOSIS)
 Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)-Epidemiological Portal

8. General Health Statistics and Data: National Level
 CDC- Data and Statistics
 CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)

9. General Health Statistics and Data: National Level
 Division of Health Promotion Statistics at the National Center for Health Statistic’s DATA2010
An interactive database system that contains the most recent monitoring
data for tracking Healthy People 2010.
 US Census Bureau- American Fact Finder
 United States Department of Health and Human Services

10. General Statistics and Data: State Level
 Cancer Registry
 CHARTing Health Information for Texas
 Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI)
 Border County Health Workforce Profiles: Texas
 FedStats.gov
 Kaiser State Health Facts
 Texas Department of State Health Services
 Texas Research Links
 Texas Vital Statistics
 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health
Statistics- fast stats A to Z, Texas

11. To Learn More…
 Data Detective: Finding the Gems of Health Data
Slide presentation from a course on public health data developed by the
University of Connecticut Health Center.
 Finding and Using Health Stats
A self-study course developed by the National Library of Medicine.