Resumo

MARTINS, Andréa Maria Eleutério de Barros Lima et al. Benefits of the proposal from the World Health Organization in assessing the need for dental treatment among the elderly. Arq. Odontol. [online]. 2012, vol.48, n.4, pp. 263-269. ISSN 1516-0939.

Aim: To identify the need for dental care among the Brazilian dentate elderly population and the benefits of the direct evaluation method, proposed by WHO, as regards the comparison among methods for direct and indirect evaluation, per tooth and per individual. Materials and Methods: This study used data from 5,349 elderly examined at SB Brazil 2002/2003. The direct and indirect evaluations of need for dental care (NDC) were estimated from the prevalence of individuals with NDC, considering the dentate elderly population as the denominator. The average number of teeth in need of treatment was also calculated. The direct evaluation of NDC was conducted on all teeth present in the patient (WHO). The indirect evaluation of NDC was estimated from the evaluation of the appearance of caries in the crowns, identifying the DMFT index and its components. The restored crowns with caries and the decayed crowns were considered in need of treatment. The chi-square and Mann-Whitney test (p <0.05) were used to compare the direct and indirect methods. Results: Among the elderly, 2,418 (45.2%) were dentate and the majority presented NDC, regardless of the evaluation method. This study identified a higher prevalence of needs by the direct method (69.1% / 64.6%) (p <0.001), mainly of restorations (49.65%) and extractions (45.39%). The mean number of teeth with needs differed between the methods, with the lower appearing in the indirect method (2.72 ± 3.83) (p <0.001). Conclusion: There is high prevalence of need for restorations and extractions among the elderly in Brazil. The benefits in the evaluation proposed by the WHO were evident due to the more reliable estimate of a greater number of people / teeth in need of dental care, in addition to the definition of the type of treatment required.

Palavras-chave : Health surveys.; Oral health.; Health planning.; Dental care for aged..