Plano de intervenção para reduzir a prevalência de cárie entre crianças de uma creche de Arapiraca-AL

Abstract

The overall health of children is directly influenced by their oral health. Dental caries presents itself as one of the most common childhood diseases, potentially causing significant consequences for an individual's health. The dentist is the main agent in the process of prevention and promotion of oral health. In addition to them, parents, caregivers, and educators are also important agents in this process. The school environment can be an ideal place for the Oral Health Team (OHT) to work on the prevention and promotion of children's health. A literature review was conducted on childhood dental caries, prevention, and promotion of oral health, using the following keywords: family health program, health education, oral health, dental caries, health promotion, and health education. Publications accessible in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), the virtual library of the Center for Collective Health Education (NESCON), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), among others, were used. This work aimed to propose an intervention project with the purpose of improving access to dental treatment and reducing the prevalence of caries in children from a daycare center in Arapiraca-AL, through the articulation between health, education sectors, and parents/caregivers. The intervention plan was developed through prior bibliographic research, discussion among members of the Family Health Team and Oral Health Team, popular participation, and representatives from the education sector. The expected outcome for the proposed intervention is the change in habits, improvement in the level of information of the involved agents, improvement in access to dental treatment, and reduction in the prevalence of caries among the targeted child audience.