Atenção a saúde bucal do idoso: revisão de literatura

Abstract

For many years, oral health prevention and treatment of oral diseases in adults and especially for the elderly barely existed. This fact contributed to the growing number of edentulous and require different care in oral health. With the increasingly elderly population in Brazil and worldwide, it is necessary that public policies face this situation, according to the principles set out by the SUS, to meet this increasingly aging population. This work aimed to draw up proposals from the literature review of actions for oral health care of elderly people in the public health sector. The literature review was held at BIREME, in MEDLINE for articles published between 2000 to 2011 in the Portuguese language. Nine articles were selected for reading and analysis. The results show that the Family Health Program was developed to meet the family at all ages, and can be considered an important instrument for upgrading care for the elderly. The interaction of health professionals taking guidance to families and caregivers of elderly contribute much to improve oral health to the public. It is necessary that the municipalities get organized and enabled to provide rehabilitative care for this population layer.