Impacto do acompanhamento odontológico na saúde bucal e geral de pacientes pediátricos em domicílio: estudo quase-experimental

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the oral and general health conditions before and after dental follow-up of children treated at a Home Care Service in Minas Gerais. This is a quasi-experimental study, with a convenience sample consisting of 29 children. Oral health data were collected at two times: T1 (December 2021) and T2 (December 2022). Dental treatment/monitoring and oral health education interventions were performed weekly, from January 2022 to December 2022. The data collection of the variables number of hospitalizations and antibiotic prescription was carried out using an electronic medical record in the service's database. The data were collected monthly, during 2021 and 2022, using the annual average of the variables for statistical analysis. The assessment of oral health conditions was carried out using the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (IHO-S), in addition to the analysis of gingival bleeding and gingival hyperplasia. Fisher's Exact and Wilcoxon tests were used, respecting the significance level of 5% (SPSS 22.2). A statistically significant difference was observed for the presence of gingival bleeding (reduction of 47.4%, p=0.044), presence of plaque and calculus (50.0% reduction for both, p=0.011 and p=0.024 respectively). Antibiotic prescriptions reduced by 51.5% (p=0.043). The death and hospitalization variables did not show a statistically significant difference between the periods analyzed (p>0.050).It was concluded that the occurrences of dental plaque, calculus, gingival bleeding and antibiotic use in home-based pediatric patients decreased in the year in which there was weekly dental care.