Acesso aos serviços de saúde bucal e prevalência de cárie dentária em crianças de 5 anos de idade nas escolas municipais de Lajeado - RS.

Abstract

The dental caries is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world. The epidemiological studies can estimate its distribution in the population. The access to dental services by children as early as the first years of life constitutes better opportunities to establish oral hygiene habits, also to control the early stage disease, it providing better oral health conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence and experience of dental caries, possibly associated social determinants, as well as to analyze the access to dental services. The study population have consisted of 148 five-year-old schoolchildren enrolled in the Municipal Schools of Elementary School in the municipality of Lajeado/RS. The observational cross-sectional study was based on the SB Brazil 2010 Project. The data were collected and analyzed based on oral evaluations and questionnaires applied to the parents/guardians. The Statistical associations were verified through analyzes in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The results were compared using the chi-square test. The Dental caries prevalence over the deciduous dentition was obtained in 52.7% of the patients examined. The dental caries experience is ceo-d e CPO-D index, respectively, 2,48 and zero. The dental caries-free students in the deciduous dentition corresponded to 47.3% of the amount. In this study, we have observed a statistical association with dental caries and the parents' schooling and the parents' knowledge about the disease occurrence in their children. The schoolchildren majority had access to dental services (58,1%). The care search had as a main reason the prevention and information (58,2%), and the most cited sites were the health center in the neighborhood (45,1%) and the main health center (44,0%). The lower access to dental services have been statistically associated with the female sex, the lower family income, the lower parents’/guardians’ education level, and between the parents/guardians who did not know "if the child had dental caries".