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 Juarez, 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.
Highlights
Utilization of particular health care providers has been studied for many years and has resulted in a myriad of research
This study investigates a seldom-mentioned or measured aspect of the issue—the spatial distribution of dental offices in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
This study investigated the spatial distribution of dental offices in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and attempted to determine if the demand from US patients for dental work had visually expressed itself on the urban landscape of Juárez from 1996 to 2011 in response to the US demand
Summary
Utilization of particular health care providers has been studied for many years and has resulted in a myriad of research. Research relevant to this study includes the role that poverty and cultural preferences play in a person’s decision to use a particular facility [1,2]. Other studies have determined that distance and travel time are key factors to utilization [3]. In 1981, Penchansky and Thomas identified five dimensions of access as availability, accessibility, accommodation, affordability and acceptability. Accessibility defines the geographic barriers to receiving such services such as distance, transportation, and travel time to the facility. Affordability refers to the cost of services and acceptability describes how the provider interacts with the patient on a personal level. Each dimension can interfere with true access by creating barriers that limit utilization of services
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