Impact of covid-19 on oral health in the public network in a health district in the municipality of Recife

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Oral Health in Recife. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative-qualitative approach. In qualitative terms, a documentary research was carried out, with content issued before and during the pandemic by the Health Department of Recife/PE, directing the work process of the oral health teams. In the quantitative analysis, data from the e-SUS Primary Care for the months of April, May, June and July in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, from the Health District V of Recife, were observed. Many documents were issued by the municipality in order to adapt to the new demand. It was noted that emergency room visits increased in 2020 (n=168) and 2021 (n=184), compared to 2019 (n=81) and the first programmatic dental appointments decreased between 2020 (n=55) and 2021 (n=42), as opposed to 2019 (n=1653). A good part of the injuries specified in the field of oral health surveillance registered a growing increase in 2020 and 2021, taking their values ​​in percentage. Dental procedures, on the other hand, suffered large reductions, totaling 358 procedures in 2020 and 473 procedures in 2021. There were profound changes both in the way the oral health teams work and in the demands presented by the analyzed indicators.