Popular education in oral health and teaching-service-community integration in the context of Primary Health Care: an experience report

Abstract

For many years, dentistry was based on predominantly individual, curative and liberal practices, moving away from the fundamental aspects of health promotion and humanized care. From this perspective, in the daily routine of oral health services, it is still possible to see fragmented approaches and actions, which hinder the practice of humanization and integralization of the SUS and the process of Popular Health Education. In this way, health promotion, as evidenced by health education, becomes an essential tool, which promotes the integration of teaching-service-community. The aim of the study is to describe an experience report of undergraduate students in Dentistry at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, developed through oral health education actions for the child population and their respective caregivers assisted by Primary Health Care in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, based on the precepts of Popular Education in Health, from March to September 2022. It also seeks to critically reflect on the importance of teaching-service-community integration. To this end, a schedule of visits was drawn up, followed by action planning and the development of oral health education activities, which included previous studies of the area, training of staff, as well as lectures, activities, games, plays and educational booklets on oral health, using appropriate language according to the target population. The conclusion is that teaching-service-community integration is an important strategy for linking professional training and the health care services offered by the SUS. In addition, health education actions in line with the humanization ideals of the SUS favour the autonomy of individuals and should therefore be encouraged.