Scope of GIS in Dental Public Health

Abstract

The spatial variations affecting oral health can be determined by using the evolving technology, Geographical Information System (GIS). The present article aims to review various GIS applications in dental public health and to critically examine the strengths, limitations and challenges of utilising GIS in dental public health. GIS has helped in many areas like spatial patterning of dental services, effects of interventions and contextual level influences on oral health. Still, there are few limitations with GIS like limited availability of spatial data, highly dependent on the amount and quality of data for different regions, wide variation of GIS software applications, cost of software, hardware and training. The strategic opportunities for its use should be maximized for the mutual benefit of researchers, practitioners, decision makers, and our communities.