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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of people whose water systems have the recommended amount of fluoride — OH‑11 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  Water Fluoridation Reporting System (WFRS), CDC/NCCDPHP

Baseline: 72.8 percent of persons were served by community water systems with optimally fluoridated water in 2016

Target: 77.1 percent

Numerator
Number of persons receiving optimally fluoridated water from public water systems.
Denominator
Number of persons served by public water systems.
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because no additional information could be used to assess the target.

Methodology

Methodology notes

CDC produces a biennial report in collaboration with state oral health and drinking water programs. Details of the calculation of fluoridation statistics are available from CDC. The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) recommendation for the optimal concentration of fluoride in drinking water for the purpose of preventing tooth decay was updated in 2015 from a range of 0.7 to 1.2 mg/L based on ambient average air temperature to a uniform level of 0.7 mg/L for the nation. However, because water fluoridation is a state activity and the USPHS. Recommendation is not a federal regulation, water systems apply the definition of optimal concentration determined by the state in which they operate.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.