Perception and attitudes of dentists from Primary Health Care Centers on the care of special health patients

• Autor(a) principal: Azevedo, Marina Sousa
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Castanheira, Vitória, Flores, Laiza, Schardosim, Lisandrea
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da ABENO (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revabeno.emnuvens.com.br/revabeno/article/view/899
• topic: Disabled Persons. Community Health Centers. Dentistry. Primary Health Care.; Pessoas com Deficiência. Centros de Saúde. Odontologia. Atenção Primária à Saúde.

The care of special needs patients (SNP) in Dentistry requires a different approach. This population reports difficulties in getting care, especially, at the public service. The aim of this study was to investigate the perception and attitudes of the dentists that work on Public Health Care Centers (PHC)in the city of Pelotas on the care of SNP. A total of 47 professionals from the PHC participated in this research and they answered a questionnaire about their professional routine, time since graduation, professional qualification and experience, attitudes and difficulties related to the care of SNP. Descriptive analysis and Fisher’s Exact Test were performed to assess the association between the characteristics of the dentists, their perception, experiences and attitudes towards care. Most dentists (93,6%) reported that they attend patients with special needs and their most difficulty was the lack of a dental assistant to help them (58,5%). There was a better perception regarding the care of SNP among those dentists that are involved in the Family Health Strategy team, with less time since graduation and that are fully dedicated to the public service. We concluded that, although most dentists reported that they attend those SNP, there are several difficulties and the most one is the lack of help.