Association between the development stage of the oral health care network and primary health care coverage in a state of southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Aim: The present study analyzed the association between the development stage of the oral health care network in a Brazilian state and oral health coverage of Primary Health Care (PHC). Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study was conducted with 205 municipal oral health coordinators of a state in the southeast of Brazil. Data collection was carried out through a validated questionnaire. Descriptive and cluster analysis were performed. Variables oral health coverage (total PHC and in the Family Health Strategy – FHS), allocation factor (AF) of financial resources, and expanded health area of municipalities were compared with the clusters (p < 0.05). Results: Cluster 1 was classified as containing incipient health care networks (n = 109), and cluster 2 was classified as containing advanced health care networks (n = 96). Descriptive analysis showed that oral health coverage in total PHC was 100% and in FHS was 78.1%. The majority of municipalities were classified in quartiles AF 1 and 2. The expanded health areas with the highest number of municipalities were South and Southeast. Clusters were associated with total PHC coverage (p = 0.038) and FHS (p = 0.009), and no association between clusters with AF (p = 0.754) and expanded health area of municipalities (p = 0.519). Conclusion: The municipalities’ PHC coverage was related to the effectiveness of oral health network implantation.