Oral and Maxillofacial Injury Research at a Tertiary Care Hospital in the SUS Network of the State of Ceará

Abstract

The Dentist, trained as a health professional and scientist, should not limit themselves to the care of teeth and their supporting structures, but also dedicate themselves to the area of prevention and diagnosis of diseases of the buccomaxillofacial complex, based on the collection and addition of epidemiological data about oral health. Dental epidemiology can be characterized as the area that studies the factors conditioning the emergence and distribution of determinants related to the state of oral health and disease, as well as using this study to improve the population's health conditions. Particularly, radiographic examination contributes information about the prevalence of dental anomalies in a specific population. In Ceará, the available epidemiological data on oral health have rarely been subjected to systematic and periodic analysis, making it difficult to define adequate local epidemiological parameters. In this sense, the present study aimed to establish the clinical epidemiological profile of the participants of the dental evaluation project carried out during the 48th anniversary of the General Hospital of Fortaleza, which took place on May 30 and 31, 2017. Based on the data obtained in this study, it was observed that a portion of our population presents dentition problems that lead, for example, to the need for prostheses and surgical procedures for tooth extractions, more specifically of the 3rd molars, in both sexes. Considering these results, the discussion of this study clarifies that these findings are repeated in dental epidemiology studies already conducted in literature with the population of the municipality of Fortaleza. Thus, the results obtained in this research contribute to the management of goals of the Unified Health System, which should seek improvement in prevention measures, education, and systematization of care in controlling oral health problems in Ceará.