PONTES, K. T. O atendimento odontológico sob o ponto de vista infantil na cidade de Araruna-PB [Dental care from a child’s point of view in the city of Araruna-PB]. Undergraduate Thesis – Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Araruna, PB, 2015.
Available at: http://dspace.bc.uepb.edu.br/jspui/bitstream/123456789/10847/1/PDF-%20Kaise%20Tavares%20Pontes.pdf
Objective: to know the children’s point of view of dental treatment. Methods: children aged 5-8 years (n=45) enrolled in municipal schools of Araruna city, state of Paraiba, Brazil, participated in the study that consisted in Thematic-Drawing-and-Story Procedure and a qualitative interview about dental assistance. It was performed a clinical examination to record the number of decayed, missing and filed teeth. To analyze the drawings-stories were considered four categories (dental office, dental treatment, dentist image and behavioral manifestation) expanded in subcategories. The information obtained in the interviews were grouped by similarity of content and were quantified numerically. Data were presented by descriptive statistics. Results: In the drawing-story the most frequently reported categories were dental office (75%) and dental treatment (21%), with emphasis on curative treatment. The dentist image was considered humanized (96%) and the dental treatment model was described as technical-curative (87%). The clinical procedure was considered the most positive aspect of dental care (60%), when associated with pain relief, and the most negative (27%), when it led to pain. Children were satisfied with their smile (87%) and 60% reported the need of dental assistance. Carious lesions were diagnosed in 76% of children and among those who believed they did not need dental care (38%), only 11% were caries-free. Conclusions: A humanized view of the dentist and curative dental care model was found. The reported dental treatment necessity does not correspond to the precarious oral health status of the assessed children.