Resumo

OLIVEIRA, Ana Cristina; GOMES, Viviane Elisângela; VAGAS, Andréia Maria Duarte  e  FERREIRA, Efigênia Ferreira e. Promotion of oral health for adolescents. Arq. Odontol. [online]. 2011, vol.47, suppl.2, pp. 64-67. ISSN 1516-0939.

Considering that adolescents do not benefit from the care and attention to children or enjoy the targeted assistance provided for adults, adolescence is considered a period of risk for oral diseases, such as caries and periodontal disease. The preent study aimed to describe the "Oral Health Promotion for Adolescents" extension project, developed at the School of Dentistry form the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). The "Oral Health Promotion for Adolescents" project has been in existence for more than 10 years and is part of the "Health Promotion Project" at the UFMG School of Dentistry. The project was created in an attempt to take action to promote the health and dental care of adolescents in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The project attempts to occupy an empty and incomplete space by proposing a special care for adolescents and aims to provide dental care in an attempt to promote healthcare for adolescents. This project grants undergraduate students in dentistry the opportunity for the firsthand study of the specifics of adolescent patients as well as increased training and development in defining the diagnosis and treatment decisionmaking. The project takes place in one of the UFMG School of Dentistry clinics, which offers 24 positions per semester. At this clinic, preventive, surgical, and restorative procedures are performed. All students are volunteers, and only the student tutor is awarded a financial aid grant. The majority of the students involved appear to be satisfied and value learning process during their participation in the project. The healthcare services for adolescents is an enormous challenge. There is no ready-made formula. If professionals do not understand the adolescents as individuals, they will be unable to relate with the adolescent properly and will unlikely be able to reach the desired goal of prevention, as they will be unable to effectively motivate the adolescent patient.

Palavras-chave : Adolescent.; Dental caries.; Primary health care.; Health services accessibility.; Dentistry..