Atendimento odontológico a pacientes com deficiência visual - Uma visão acadêmica

Abstract

Brazil has about 18.6% of visually impaired people with total or partial loss of vision. The demand for visually impaired people is growing and the preparation of health professionals is still insufficient for adequate care for this group of individuals. In search of the best qualification of professionals, Brazilian dental schools present programmatic contents that address this theme. The aim of this work is to report the experience of an undergraduate student, in a care program for institutionalized individuals, involving attention to the oral health of a patient with visual impairment, in order to understand the challenges in dental care for this group, from access to physical space of the spiritual, treatment and even maintenance of oral health. This is a descriptive-qualitative study based on an academic experience report in association with previously published articles on the same topic. The experience in assisting a visually impaired person makes it possible to understand how much it is still necessary to prepare for the assistance of this segment, encompassing adequate professional knowledge, differentiated approaches and sensitivity to break the capable mentality.