Acesso aos serviços de saúde bucal por idosos de Pelotas-RS

Abstract

Aim: To measure the lack of access and the use of oral health services by elder people in Pelotas-RS. Methods: Cross-sectional population based study conducted by household interview with 1.451 subjects with 60 years old or more, in a mediumsized city in southern Brazil. Sociodemographic variables were used to assess the association with outcomes. It was used Poisson regression to the crude and adjusted analyzes. Results: A total of 1451 elders were interviewed throughout a structured questionnaire. The lack of access in the last year reached prevalence of 1.8%. Elders who have never consulted before added 3.1% and the use of oral health services in the last year had a prevalence of 38.3%. The last year’s use presented a positive association with the following variables: to be on a younger age, have a partner, have high education, refer problems in the mouth, have a necessity for dental prosthesis and be toothless. Conclusions: The lack of access in the last year was considerably low. The use of oral health services was higher than the one observed in other studies. The findings seem to reflect the expansion of oral health services in the city, particularly in the public health system, which are useful for the planning actions for the health policies.