Perception of Dentists about the Functioning of Emergency Public Dental Services

Abstract

Objective: To know the perception of dentists about the functioning of emergency public dental services (PEDS). Material and Methods: Cross-sectional exploratory study performed in Goiania, a large municipality in the mid-west of Brazil. Participated as subjects the dentists of all ten municipal PEDS. The perception was measured by Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, where value 5 represented maximum agreement with assertions contained in a questionnaire about the functioning of the services. Results: The final sample consisted of 44 dentists (Response rate=70%.) The perception of the professionals, measured by average agreement with the assertions, ranged from 3.54 and 4.68 in a maximum score of 5.00. Conclusion: For all items discussed there was a favorable perception of the participants. In the perception of the professionals, emergency public dental services meet a spontaneous demand, commonly of endodontic emergencies, with performance of non-conclusive procedures and dental extraction. The professionals recognize that there is a need to improve the embracement of patients, as well as to adopt clinical protocols for the treatment, yet there are flaws in the system of reference of patients, in continuing education of professionals and in the conditions of provision of the services to the population.

Dental emergencies in public health services: what is the role of the Dental Surgeon?

“…Thus, exodontias are very common in this type of service [9,10] and despite of the importance of conservative treatment prioritizing the maintenance of the dental element [24], the procedure can be adequately and resolutely performed in PEDS, e.g. in situations such as vertical fractures of the root.…”

“…This instrument was designed to be used in our study, evaluated by external oral health researchers, pretested among DS professionals and presented a post-hoc reliability of 91%. Detailed information about the process of elaboration and reliability analysis of this instrument can be found in a previously published study [10].…”

“…These types of services provide prompt care to dental emergencies, representing an important part of the oral health services system, which is especially reachable to low level social vulnerable people who can't access regular dental treatment [5,6,11,12]. As well, PEDS work on a basis of out-of-hours care and fill a gap left by regular services which are normally closed during weekends, holidays and at night [10].…”

“…Strategies for coping with conditions that require immediate attention in the Unified Health System (SUS) include the Emergency Public Dental Services (PEDS) [5][6][7][8][9][10]. These types of services provide prompt care to dental emergencies, representing an important part of the oral health services system, which is especially reachable to low level social vulnerable people who can't access regular dental treatment [5,6,11,12].…”

“…The investigations aimed at: reasons for patient's demanding emergency care and conducts performed by the dental surgeon (DS) [13,14], socio-demographic profile of the population served [6,11], characteristics and functioning of services [10] and patient satisfaction [7].…”