Abstract

PAULA, Fernando Jorge de; MUNOZ, Daniel Romero; SILVA, Moacyr da  and  MOTTA, Márcia Vieira da. Consumer complaints about dental care at São Paulo City Procon (2006-2010). Rev. Assoc. Paul. Cir. Dent. [online]. 2013, vol.67, n.1, pp. 56-63. ISSN 0004-5276.

In Brazil, there are local Consumer Protection Agencies (Procons) which are federal conciliatory organizations in each city where common citizens can file consumer-related complaints, including those regarding dental treatment. This study main objective was to evaluate the main motivator factors in complaints filed against dental professionals in the city of Sao Paulo, from 2006 and 2010. Among all the consumers' complaints, there were 641 against dentists, dental offices or dental plans: 59 in 2006; 41 in 2007; 145 in 2008; 190 in 2009 and 206 in 2010. There were 21 issuing factors identified. The main ones were: health contract rescission, substitution or modification with 149 complaints, unmet offers (143) and suspicion against the provided service quality or efficiency (125). Throughout the studied period, there was a significant increase in successful conciliations rates: ca 22% in 2006, and 75,7% in 2010.

Keywords : forensic dentistry; social responsibility; ethics, dental; consumer advocacy; consumer health information.