Main barreirs to proomting oral health in the ederly in Brazil: a literature review

• Autor(a) principal: Sousa, Livia Lopes de
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Souto, Fernanda Carneiro de Bastos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Implantology and Health Sciences
• Texto Completo: https://bjihs.emnuvens.com.br/bjihs/article/view/658
• topic: Idosos; Saúde bucal; Promoção saúde bucal; Odontologia; Elderly; Oral health; Oral health promotion; Dentistry

The increase in the elderly population in Brazil and its oral health challenges are crucial issues that require urgent attention. Based on demographic and health data, it is clear that older adults face significant barriers in accessing appropriate dental services. Financial issues, lack of qualified professionals and geographic barriers make it difficult to obtain dental care. The objective of this work was to identify the main barriers to promoting oral health in the elderly in Brazil. This was a narrative literature review, which used the research descriptors: “Elderly” and “Oral Health” and “Health Promotion” together with the Boolean operators “AND” and “NOT”, their corresponding ones in Portuguese and English. Initially, the descriptors were used through the PubMed Advanced Search Builder - by the MeSH`s of the PubMed database. Subsequently, a search was carried out in the Scielo electronic bookstore. 93 articles were found in the two databases with the possibility of being selected. After filtering by title and summary, 77 articles were selected, while only 42 met the inclusion criteria. It is concluded that to overcome these barriers and effectively promote the oral health of older people, it is essential to adopt comprehensive measures. This includes reformulating the public health system, focusing on the availability of quality dental services for this age group. Furthermore, it is essential to raise awareness among the elderly population about the importance of oral health care, highlighting how this directly affects their quality of life.