Case-resolving capacity of dental care of the Unified Health System: the perception of users in a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Lima,Arinilson Moreira Chaves
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Garbin,Cléa Adas Saliba, Corrente,José Eduardo, Saliba,Nemre Adas, Moimaz,Suzely Adas Saliba
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Ciência & Saúde Coletiva (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-81232018000501657
• topic: Dental care; Effectiveness; Unified Health System; Health services accessibility

Abstract The aim of this study was to learn about the users' perceptions concerning the case-resolving capacity of dental care in the Unified Health System and to analyze the associations between solving capacity and both sociodemographic characteristics and access to the service. This was a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, in which 461 users responded to individual interviews. The outcome variable was the case-resolving capacity of dental care, obtained through the question: “In your opinion, is the dentist of this health center managing to solve all your oral health problems (Yes/No)”. Independent variables were grouped into the following: sociodemographic and related to the access to the service. Most participants reported that their oral health problems were being solved. By using the Poisson regression, the lack of case-resolving capacity was found to be associated to the patients' not considering the dental surgeon's working hours convenient; to the long time they had to wait to get an appointment in the health center; and to the long time they had to wait in the waiting room. The results showed the positive view that users have about the case-resolving capacity of public dental care, and the relationship between access to the service and the said solving capacity.