ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT This study aimed to assess the current implementation status of Dental Specialty Centers (Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas - CEO) in Brazil. The sample included CEOs implemented up to November 2015 in the 27 Brazilian federative units. Data were obtained directly from the database of the Informatics Department of the Brazilian Unified Health System, according to the National Registry of Health Facilities (NRHF) of Dental Specialty Centers of all Brazilian regions. Primary care data were also collected from the cities with implemented CEOs, including coverage status of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) and number of Oral Health Teams (OHT) I and II, at 2 collection periods (January 2006 and November 2015). There were 1019 CEOs implemented in Brazil, which were unequally distributed among the Brazilian states, with prevalence of implementation of CEOs type II (n=503, 49.4%). The statistical analysis showed significant difference between the three types of CEO (I, II, and III) and the variables of coverage rate (FHS) and number of teams (OHT I, OHT II) at both data collection periods. Although presenting an evolutionary aspect in the implementation of CEOs, the implementation of medium-complexity care in Brazil is disorganized.
Subject(s)
Humans , Specialties, Dental/organization & administration , Secondary Care/organization & administration , Oral Health/statistics & numerical data , Community Dentistry/organization & administration , Dental Health Services/organization & administration , Health Promotion/organization & administration , Specialties, Dental/statistics & numerical data , Secondary Care/statistics & numerical data , Brazil , Residence Characteristics , Public Health Dentistry , Cross-Sectional Studies , National Health ProgramsABSTRACT
The concepts of health promotion, self-care and community participation emerged during the 1970s and, since then, their application has grown rapidly in the developed world, showing evidence of effectiveness. In spite of this, a major part of the population in the developing countries still has no access to specialized dental care such as endodontic treatment, dental care for patients with special needs, minor oral surgery, periodontal treatment and oral diagnosis. This review focuses on a program of the Brazilian Federal Government named CEOs (Dental Specialty Centers), which is an attempt to solve the dental care deficit of a population that is suffering from oral diseases and whose oral health care needs have not been addressed by the regular programs offered by the SUS (Unified National Health System). Literature published from 2000 to the present day, using electronic searches by Medline, Scielo, Google and hand-searching was considered. The descriptors used were Brazil, Oral health, Health policy, Health programs, and Dental Specialty Centers. There are currently 640 CEOs in Brazil, distributed in 545 municipal districts, carrying out dental procedures with major complexity. Based on this data, it was possible to conclude that public actions on oral health must involve both preventive and curative procedures aiming to minimize the oral health distortions still prevailing in developing countries like Brazil.