Knowledge of oral health by community health agents – a perspective of educational deficiencies in the family health program

Abstract

The Family Health Strategy proposal is to deal with health issues in an interdisciplinary manner, and to that end, the health team must have knowledge sets that match this proposal. This article investigated the knowledge of Oral Health by Community Health Agents (CHAs). Given that the construction of the figure of this new professional focuses on an integral vision of health, and that Oral Health is one of its basic parcels, these professionals would have to possess these skills. For this, the qualitative methodology was used, through semi-structures written interviews with 52 ACSs and 8 dental surgeons (DSs) from eight teams of the Family Health program in a city in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The objective was to measure the knowledge of these ACSs and whether they considered this knowledge important. The perspective of the CDs as to the performance of the ACSs in Oral Health was also sought. The results point to the valuation of Oral Health as a relevant subject for ACSs, as well as the existence of deficiencies within this qualification. On the other hand, there are qualified college-educated professionals who believe that the ACSs can contribute significantly to the improvement of Oral Health conditions in the population.