Oral health epidemiological study realized by health agents

The Brazilian unified health system (SUS) provides, among other service, preventive and restorative dental treatment for its population. For adequate planning of this service, population epidemiological data is necessary. Nevertheless, the number of Brazilian northeast dentists, one of the poorest areas of the country, is not enough for this work and the cost of these professionals is high. Additionally, the great majority of the indexes utilized in oral health epidemiological studies can only be used by dentist, with the exception of one: Community Oral Health Index (COHI). These professionals perform domiciliary visits on a regular basis in order to verify population health needs. This study presents the oral health epidemiological study performed by health agents (who commonly work in the area were the population live and are less onerous than dentists) using the COHI. The study was performed between the months of March and June 2008. A total 630 individuals from Guaiúba (population around 20.000hab) were evaluated. The mean age was 26,7years (SD20,9) – individuals age range from 0 to 99 years of age. 64,7% were female, 38,7% had less than 20 teeth in their mouth (minimum recommended by WHO), while 6,3% had no teeth at all. 23,7% presented no cavities, 27,8% presented between 1 and 2 cavities, 28,7% 3 or more cavities,  31,1% tartar, 17,5% inflamed gingiva, 21,9% presented residual roots (needing extraction), 4,1% soft tissue problems. The need of complete superior prosthesis was 5,4%, while 5,7% needed complete inferior prosthesis, 9,8% partial superior prosthesis and 15,2 partial inferior prosthesis. These results show this population the great need of dental treatment, especially regarding prosthetic rehabilitation. The community health agents are currently helping dentists of the community to organize their service to the population’s need, as well as prioritizing service for those in more need – enforcing equity.