COMPARAÇÃO ENTRE INDICADORES DE SAÚDE BUCAL NA ATENÇÃO PRIMÁRIA À SAÚDE EM MUNICÍPIOS DE LINHA DE FRONTEIRA E DEMAIS MUNICÍPIOS DOS ESTADOS FRONTEIRIÇOS

Abstract

Social and economic inequality in the Brazilian Border Strip (FF) continues to generate challenges in the treatment and achievement of oral health indicators in this region. Since the inclusion of oral health teams in the Family Health Strategy (ESF) in 2000, Dentistry has been progressively consolidated at all levels of the Unified Health System (SUS). The aim of this study was to compare oral health indicators within the FHS and Primary Health Care (APS) in municipalities located in the BS with those of other municipalities in bordering states. This is a longitudinal panel epidemiological study that included data from national information systems between 2015 and 2022, covering 1,722 municipalities, categorized as either Border Strip or Non-Border. The following indicators were compared: coverage of the first scheduled dental appointment; the ratio between completed treatments and first scheduled dental appointments; and the proportion of tooth extractions in relation to preventive and restorative individual procedures performed by the FHS, using the Mann-Whitney test. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics software, adopting a 5% significance level. Better results were observed in the indicators of access to the first scheduled dental consultations and in the ratio between first consultations and completed treatments in the border municipalities, whereas non-border municipalities stood out in the indicator of the proportion between tooth extractions and restorative procedures. However, only the analyses of the indicators for coverage of the first scheduled dental consultation (2015–2022), the ratio between completed treatments and first consultations (2016 and 2021), and the proportion of extractions in relation to restorative and preventive treatments (2020–2022) were statistically significant. It was concluded that there are differences in health indicator outcomes between border and non-border municipalities. Nonetheless, further studies are required to investigate the individual characteristics of these municipalities, the mechanisms of financial transfers allocated to health services in this region, and the role of international cooperation. In this way, it would be possible to identify potential solutions to the challenges related to providing care for foreigners in the Brazilian border area.