Abstract

MARTINS, Andréa Maria Eleutério de Barros Lima et al. Oral health literacy: a literature review. Rev. Assoc. Paul. Cir. Dent. [online]. 2015, vol.69, n.4, pp. 328-339. ISSN 0004-5276.

The need for building knowledge on health literacy is justified by the fact that people still have doubts and difficulties to make decisions related to their own health. This study aimed to review the health literacy, identifying its principal theoretical models that guide the differences/ similarities between health education and health literacy, as well as to identify vulnerable groups of people with low health literacy. The health literacy in Dentistry was also evaluated. The Scielo / BVS / Lilacs / PubMed in Portuguese and English databases were accessed, regardless of the year of publication, using "Health literacy", "Health promotion", "Oral health education" and "Oral health literacy" keywords. Translations for Brazilian Portuguese language, and definitions and/or concepts of the term "health literacy" were identified. Interference of the relationship doctor/patient in the effectiveness of literacy, the existence of tools for its measurement (one specific for Dentistry) were found. The theoretical model proposed by Sorensen et al. (2012) presented health literacy referred to the knowledge, motivation and competence of people to access, understand, evaluate and apply information related to health. Children, adolescents, elderly, people with special mental needs, ethnic minorities and disadvantaged were reported as the vulnerable groups related to low health literacy. Association of oral health self-perception with oral health literacy was also found. Information is essential for growth and development of people, and the importance of health literacy is clear to improve the quality of life and oral health indicators.

Keywords : health Literacy; epidemiology; health promotion; oral health education; oral health literacy.