Key facts about dental health are difficult to understand or find on health department websites.

What is it about?

State health departments (SHDs) have a responsibility to educate the public. This study reviewed the websites of SHDs to determine if they provided information about water fluoridation, how easily this content could be found and if it was written in plain language.

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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Many Americans have moderate to low levels of health literacy. The websites of state health departments (SHDs) should post information about dental health that is easy to find and understand. Yet this analysis determines that 9 states had no information about a proven way to prevent tooth decay -- fluoridated water. Of the 41 SHDs that contained information about fluoridated water, only 24 states had websites that scored above 40 on the 0-54 scale. Other states are posting information that is difficulty to find or understand.