Experiências e conhecimento sobre bruxismo infantil entre os profissionais da ESF do Centro de Saúde Marco Antônio de Menezes

Abstract

Bruxism is an oral para-functional habit that has a multifactorial etiology and affects the stomatognathic system. The influence of emotional and psychological factors are increasingly recognized in its etiology. Due to the multiple etiological factors, the bruxism demands an interdisciplinary approach including dentist, physiotherapist, psychologist, speech therapist, etc. The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of health care professionals of the Health Center Marco Antonio de Menezes in relation to bruxism, enable them to diagnose it and refer these patients to the dental clinic. The study population consisted of professionals from Marco Antonio de Menezes Health Center. The sample consisted of professionals that were present to the educational lectures on bruxism held after the meeting to expose the new targets program for the city of Belo Horizonte. In order to assess the knowledge of these professionals about bruxism a questionnaire on the subject was applied. Responses were analyzed using the Epi Info version 3.5.1 program. A total of 47.1% of the team reported that never had any contact with a bruxist in their professional activities. Of these, 41.2% had no knowledge of the subject, and among the etiological factors, the emotional were the least popular (38.3%). Most (52.6%) among those who had contact with patients with bruxism have referred them correctly to dentistry for the first evaluation, but a significant number, 26.3% had no conduct. There is a lack of knowledge about the emotional causes in the etiology of bruxism by health professionals and training them showed to be an effective instrument of information for the team. The project area is to carry out educational activities with professionals from the municipal health system through its program of Videoconferencing that already takes place periodically, aiming to create a group of professionals interested in developing an interdisciplinary approach to take care of patients with bruxism.