This cross-sectional study evaluated the relationship between primary and secondary oral health care in Brazil. For this purpose, data from the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care were used. Dentists from 12,403 oral health teams (OHTs) answered a structured questionnaire in 2012. The data were analyzed descriptively and by cluster analysis. Of the 12,387 (99.9%) OHTs that answered all the questions, 62.2% reported the existence of Dental Specialties Centers (DSCs) to which they could refer patients. The specialties with the highest frequencies were endodontics (68.4%), minor oral surgery (65.8%), periodontics (63.0%), radiology (46.8%), oral medicine (40.2%), orthodontics (20.5%) and implantology (6.2%). In all percentiles, the shortest wait time for secondary care was for radiology, followed by oral medicine and the other specialties. In the 50th percentile, the wait for endodontics, periodontics, minor oral surgery and orthodontics was 30 days, while for implantology, the wait was 60 days. Finally, in the 75th percentile, the wait for endodontics, orthodontics and implantology was 90 days or more. Two clusters, with different frequencies of OHT access to specialties, were identified. Cluster 1 (n = 7,913) included the OHTs with lower frequencies in all specialties except orthodontics and implantology compared with Cluster 2 (n = 4,474). Of the Brazilian regions, the South and Southeast regions had the highest frequencies for Cluster 2, with better rates for the relationship between primary and secondary care. This study suggests certain difficulties in the relationship between primary and secondary care in specific specialties in oral health, with a great number of OHTs with limited access to DSCs, in addition to different performance in terms of OHT access to DSCs across Brazilian regions.

This study evaluated the implementation of the School Health Program (PSE in Portuguese) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, the mechanisms favoring inter-sector action, and municipal administrators' perceptions concerning inter-sector collaboration. A case study was developed with document search and the application of an online questionnaire. The document search analyzed federal and municipal legislation on the PSE published in the Federal Register and Municipal Register and news on the program published in the Municipal Register. A semi-structured online questionnaire was completed by 30 municipal administrators. Content analysis was used on the qualitative data from the document search and questionnaire. The quantitative data were interpreted by descriptive analysis using Stata v. 13. Integrative mechanisms were identified in the federal and municipal provisions and in the unique PSE model adopted by the city. These mechanisms can potentially promote permanent linkage between health and education. However, the study with municipal administrators showed limited use of these mechanisms and the predominance of a sector-based logic in the program. There was evident difficulty in developing inter-sector collaboration in the program's activities. The potentialities of inter-sector action identified in the official documents and described in the institutional news failed to reverberate in either the administrators' practices or the impact on the schools' territories.

a low proportion of filling was observed, especially in PHC and other services.

Objective: To describe the primary care actions performed by oral health teams (OHTs) that participated in a large national survey led by the Ministry of Health in 2012. Methods: A total of 12,403 dentists from OHTs completed a set of survey questions (response rate = 85.01%) on the organization of care, basic dental procedures and oral health surveillance actions of OHTs. Descriptive and hierarchical cluster analyses were developed. Results: The majority of OHTs (85.2%) reported that they performed “patient welcoming”. The delivery of services was based on a patient’s identified disease risk (83.1%), and continuity of care was ensured by 85.9% of OHTs. Individual preventive, restorative and surgical procedures were performed by the majority of the teams; however, screening for oral cancer and construction of dental prostheses/dentures occurred less frequently. Cluster 1 was composed of OHTs with the lowest proportion of oral healthcare actions related to oral cancer and dental prostheses/dentures, and the Southeastern and Southern regions had higher proportions of OHTs from cluster 2. Conclusions: OHTs adhere to some of the principles of primary care organizations; however, the teams perform fewer actions related to oral cancer treatment and rehabilitation with complete dentures. The geographical distribution of the clusters was unequal in Brazil.

O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever a experiência da disciplina Ciências Sociais Aplicadas à Saúde (CSAS) da Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (FO-UFMG). Em resposta às recomendações das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para os cursos de graduação em Odontologia e do Programa Nacional de Reorientação da Formação Profissional em Saúde (Pró-Saúde), desde 2004, a FO-UFMG tem-se mobilizado para mudar seu currículo, dando atenção especial à diversificação dos cenários de aprendizagem. Em 2007, a disciplina de CSAS foi reformulada, permitindo a inserção dos discentes no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) no início de sua formação profissional, quando a realidade e a prática do SUS são os objetos de ensino. Esse movimento reforçou as expectativas de que essa inserção é viável. Espera-se que as mudanças na disciplina funcionem como um projeto piloto, subsidiando outras iniciativas que destinem a uma maior aproximação dos estudantes com a prática profissional, e que sirva de parâmetro na organização e planejamento de outros conteúdos vinculados à saúde coletiva a serem incluídos na formação profissional.

Although the analyzed items are insufficient to determine the performance of OHTs, the items related to prosthesis and oral cancer tend to discriminate high-performing OHTs from other OHTs.

Este estudo objetivou conhecer a situação dos cursos de Odontologia no Brasil envolvidos com o Programa Nacional de Reorientação da Formação Profissional em Saúde - Pró-Saúde, em relação aos diferentes espaços de aprendizagem. Foi realizada análise documental dos relatórios dos cursos contemplados com o Pró-Saúde I. O item "atividade de ensino na rede de serviços" e a carga horária (CH) de estágio foram os critérios de inclusão, e, dos vinte relatórios, 18 foram incluídos. Verificou-se uma diversidade entre as CH das Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) destinadas ao estágio nos serviços da rede básica, embora todas apresentassem alunos neste cenário, cinco cursos incluíssem, ainda, os Hospitais/CEO (Centro de Especialidades Odontológicas), e 11 agregassem os projetos comunitários. A incorporação dos serviços de saúde como cenário diversificado de aprendizagem varia, refletindo as diferentes interpretações dadas a sua importância, com consenso na expectativa gerada pelo incentivo do Pró-Saúde.

Objective This study aims to describe the primary care services carried out by Oral Health Teams (OHTs) in Brazil, and to understand the nuances that lead to different levels of OHT performance. Material & methods A mixed-methods study with a sequential explanatory design was developed. In the quantitative phase, secondary data from a national survey (PMAQ-AB) was used to describe the work of 12,403 OHTs. Item response theory (IRT) was applied, to evaluate the psychometric qualities of 20 oral health questions from PMAQ-AB and to identify the performance of OHT. The quantitative results guided the selection of the qualitative sample. An extreme case sampling strategy was used (opposite results). OHTs were selected from Belo Horizonte metropolitan region in Brazil using scores measured by IRT. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was conducted using deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Results Quantitative results showed that there are OHT with high and low performance in Brazil. The IRT analysis showed that items related to prostheses and oral cancer tend to discriminate high-performance OHTs from other OHTs. Qualitative results deepened the understanding of accessing oral health services and found several access barriers, such as the insufficient number of OHTs for the population, and a very long waiting time for dental consultations other than urgency. The qualitative results confirmed that high-performance OHTs tend to emphasize oral cancer surveillance and deliver prostheses in PHC services. Conclusion Despite the expansion of oral health in PHC in Brazil in recent years, OHTs still face many challenges such as: access barriers; failures in prevention, early diagnosis and follow-up of oral cancer cases; and insufficient rehabilitation with prostheses.