Oral health policy of the city of Porto Alegre, southern Brazil: Analysis of the database of the Outpatient Information System of the Brazilian Unifi ed Health System

Abstract

Specifi cally for the dentistry fi eld, the pact for health expresses the relevance of the process of evaluation and monitoring of primary care programs and services. The aim of the present study was to analyze the oral health poli cy of the city of Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil, in the context of the decentralization in health care implemented by the Brazilian Unifi ed Health System (Sis tema Único de Saúde, SUS), based on the database of the Outpatient Information System (Sistema de Informações Ambulatoriais, SIA). This descriptive, quantitative, normative/evaluative study analyzed secondary data from a historical series of dental procedures conducted in Porto Alegre and recorded by the SIA-SUS from 2008 to 2012. Data were collected directly from the SIA-SUS database. Data were also obtained from city’s management reports from 2010 to 2013. Results show that the coverage of both Programmatic First Dental Consultation and Collective Supervised Toothbrushing Action was lower than that established in the pact.