The clinic in dentistry: connections and disconnections with the expanded clinical practice of oral health

Abstract

This article aimed to understand the representation that the clinic assumes in dental practices, in a medium-sized municipality in the state of Santa Catarina. It is a qualitative study, whose participants were dental surgeons linked to public oral health services. Data were collected with three focus groups. The audio-recorded material was transcribed and analyzed with the help of the dialectical hermeneutics. In the first category of analysis - clinic conception -, the participants demonstrated difficulty in formulating a concept for the clinic, translating it as the development of technical procedures, understood as being central to this type of practice for dentists. Integrality and resolvability appeared as central elements, but assume a dentistry-centered view. In the category “resources and organization of the dental clinic,” the advantages of using the electronic medical records and the limitations of tab division that narrow the access to information were observed. In treatment systematics, there is little room for listening and the odontogram emerges as a synonym for treatment plan, reinforcing the tooth-focused character of the practices developed. The study showed diversified challenges to incorporating the clinic, whether understood in the traditional molds or in a broader way, in the practices developed by the study participants.