Occurrence of dental emergency events in primary health care services

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the occurrence of dental emergency and its association with individual factors and primary health care services. A follow-up study was conducted with data extracted from an exploratory study about the classification of dental care needs over time according to a care framework. There were included 1831 patients of five services. The outcome was the occurrence of dental emergency analyzed according to sex, age, skin color, service and maximum waiting time for dental care. A multivariate analysis with Poisson regression was used to estimate weighted prevalence ratio (PR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) and survival analysis was conducted. The prevalence of dental emergency was 12.6%, varying according to age (13–19: PRa =1.79 (95%CI: 1.0–3.21); 20–65: PRa = 2.71 (95%CI: 1.73–4.26); Over 65: PRa = 2.51 (95%CI: 1.41–4.46)) and Primary Health Care service (FHS 2: PRa = 2.20 (95%CI: 1.37–3.53), FHS 3: PRa = 1.43 (95%CI: 0.90–2.27); FHS 4: PRa = 3.25 (95%CI: 2.15–4.92), FHS 5: PRa = 2.49 (95%CI: 1.56–3.97)) For 231 cases classified as emergency, the failure rate was 7.4%. For 214 cases of emergency, the non-continuity after appointment rate was 53.7%. The incidence of dental emergency was 8.3% and recurrence was 7.2%. Considering all 262 emergency cases attended, the resolution rate was 93.5% and most cases (n = 252, 96.1%) received care within one day. The results point to high effectiveness in emergency dental care within Primary Health Care services. There are indications of the need for improvements in retention and continuity of care.