FIGUEIREDO, Nilcema; CARNUT, Leonardo    GOES, Paulo Sávio Angeiras de. Evaluation of out-of-hours dental service, Recife, Brasil. IJD, Int. j. dent. []. 2010, 9, 3, pp. 114-119. ISSN 1806-146X.

To evaluate the establishment of an out-of-hours dental service in Recife. This was a quantitative study using a sec o ndary data setting design. Data were collected using clinical and sociodemographic information from the entire population requiring an out-of-hours dental service in Recife - PE - Brazl. The time frame used in the analyses was June 2003 to September 2004. The data analysis was divided into a descriptive and an analytical phase, using the chisquare test, with a 5% level of significance. The results showed that 17,878 users requested the service with an average of 1,188.5 users/m o nth. The mean age of the po pulatio n was 24.7 years (24.5 -24.9, 95°% CI). The main reaso n fo r users requesting the service was acute painful emergencies (74.3%). Only 7.4°% did not have their complaints classified as an emergency. The highest demand for the service was on Tuesdays (p < 0.05). Post-traumatic injures were more frequent in males (61.5°%) (p < 0.05), even though all other complaints showed a predominance of females. 1 to 5-year - olds had a high frequency of dental trauma (22%) and post-traumatic injuries (31%) (p < 0.05). There is a considerable demand for an out-of-hours dental service in Heath Administration Area II and it is very important in providing support at all levels of dental care.

: Toothache; Dental heath services; Comprehensive dental care; Emergency.