This survey set out to validate the Index of Oral Healthcare Needs (IOHN), based on a pre-defined algorithm of the social status of families. The validation process was divided into two phases, namely a face validation and a construct validation. In the latter, data on caries experience, toothache and access to oral health services was collected. To validate the index a random, stratified sample of 412 children aged 3-5 and 7-12 was obtained, based on the IOHCN algorithm, all the children being from the areas of Recife covered by the family healthcare program. The analysis consisted of a descriptive and an analytical phase, adopting a 5% level of significance. The index was considered by an expert committee to have good face validity. The convergent construct validation was associated with a decay component of dmft (p = 0.03) and DMFT (p = 0.01); the divergent construct validation was associated with access to oral care (p = 0.001) and filled component of dmft (p = 0.05), showing no association with the filled component of DMFT. The Index of Oral Healthcare Needs was shown to have good initial validation and canbe used as a useful tool in the planning of dental care at a local level.
Epidemiologic surveillance; Equity in health; Public health dentistry
