With more than one hundred years of history, the division of labor in dentistry is a process that is affected by distinct and sometimes opposing principles: professional (social) and administrative (technical/economic). The circumstances created by the historical dynamics of these recursively contending principles redefine the possibilities of their operation. In Brazil today, the inordinate number of dentistry surgeons in the dentistry field has created anomalies in the professionalization process in Brazil, as well as ineffectiveness and unfairness in the rationalization process and expansion of the division of labor (team work) in the Public Health System (SUS), particularly with regards to the basic health care provided by the Family Health Strategy, and the perpetuation of interpretative disputes around normative instruments in the legal system, such as law no. 11,889/2008, which governs the professions of buccal health technician and buccal health assistant. All of these are crucial elements for the future of the organization of the buccal health sector of basic health care, as well as the future disposition of the work force in the epidemiological transition process that is currently underway in the country.
buccal health; technician in buccal health; human resources in health; family health; division of labor in the health segment