The objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess the professional profile of dental-surgeons (DS) who work in the Family Health Strategy (FHS), and on the basis of this reflect upon aspects of the development of dental actions in primary health care in municipalities of a health region of the state of Piauí (Brazil) The study covered the nineteen municipalities of the region. The sample consisted of 111 dentists and data was collected using a questionnaire from August to December 2008. An Excel Ò database was created for the statistical analysis. The dentists were predominantly female, aged 20-39 years, with one to five years of professional experience. Most of them are specialists in a clinical field of dentistry and make home care visits. However, these visits are infrequent and without a health team and they rarely meet with the health team to compare notes. The results indicate that the problems that were detected are likely to be the same in other regions of the country. The lack of an interdisciplinary professional approach among DS is an issue to be properly addressed when examining the role of dentistry and its potentially unquestionable participation in the family health strategy.
Oral health; Family Health Program; Unified Health System; Dental Health Services; Health Policy
