Glendale Dental Check: Dentist Visits, Tooth Loss and Fluoride

Across Glendale as a whole, CDC estimates that 65.2% of adults had seen a dentist or dental clinic in the past year, which leaves about one in three (34.8%) who had not. Los Angeles County's figure was 62.0%, Burbank's 67.6% and Pasadena's 66.1%. The intervals around these city and county estimates overlap, so the differences between them are within the margin of error.

The bigger differences are inside the city. In ZIP code 91208, in north Glendale, an estimated 74.3% of adults had a dental visit in the past year; in 91204 it was 58.5%, and in 91205 59.1%. Next door, 72.7% of adults in La Crescenta's 91214 and 66.4% in Montrose's 91020 had a visit.

Complete tooth loss among adults 65 and older follows a similar map: 9.6% citywide (Los Angeles County: 12.2%), from 6.3% in 91207 and 91208 to 15.1% in 91205.

Mostly, yes. In 2025, Glendale Water & Power delivered 7.5 billion gallons of drinking water. Of its total water supply that year, 63.3% was bought from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, 31.3% was pumped from local groundwater in the San Fernando Basin and 5.4% was recycled water. The Metropolitan Water District adds fluoride at its treatment plants; the figures GWP reports for its own groundwater are the fluoride that occurs naturally.

GWP monitored fluoride across its distribution system through 2025 and reports a range of 0.47 to 0.77 parts per million, with an average of 0.67 ppm (for water, one ppm equals one milligram per liter). That average is close to the 0.7 mg/L level recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the highest reading is well under California's legal limit of 2.0 mg/L.

A small area in the north of the city gets its water from the Crescenta Valley Water District instead of GWP, so these figures do not cover it.

• If it has been more than a year since your last dental visit, you are far from alone: about one in three Glendale adults is in the same spot. A routine dental checkup is the simplest place to restart.
• Nearly one in ten Glendale adults 65 and older have no natural teeth. If you or a parent wear full dentures, our pages on dentures and denture relining explain what upkeep looks like.
• Glendale's tap water carries fluoride close to the federally recommended level. Our guide to fluoride for adults covers the other forms, from toothpaste to in-office varnish.

Dental visits and tooth loss come from CDC PLACES, 2025 release. PLACES turns the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey into estimates for small areas using a statistical model with Census population data; the two dental questions were asked in 2022. "Saw a dentist" is the share of adults 18 and older who visited a dentist or dental clinic for any reason in the past year; "lost all natural teeth" is the share of adults 65 and older who have had all their natural teeth removed because of tooth decay or gum disease. We use crude (not age-adjusted) prevalence with its 95% interval; the CSV also has the age-adjusted values where CDC publishes them. ZIP codes are Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which closely follow postal ZIP codes.

Fluoride figures and the water source mix are copied from Glendale Water & Power's 2025 Water Quality Report (published July 1, 2026). GWP's 2024 report printed the same distribution range and average. The reference levels come from the California State Water Resources Control Board's fluoridation page.

Limits: PLACES figures are model-based estimates, not counts, and can differ from what a local survey would find. They describe 2022. CDC's direct survey estimate for California as a whole (66.2% saw a dentist; 6.9% of adults 65 and older lost all teeth) is produced a different way, so we do not set it beside the local model estimates. Fluoride levels vary by neighborhood and day with the blend of imported water and groundwater.