Tratamento restaurador atraumático (ART): avaliação de um protocolo de atendimento em gestantes da rede pública do município de Feira de Santana

Abstract

The Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) is a treatment alternative for the caries disease, which remains with high prevalence, and constitutes a serious public health problem. The ART consists in the removal of the carious tissue with manual instruments and later closing of its cavities with glass-ionomer cement (GIC). It is important to develop a health promotion program associated with the clinical procedure. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the utilization of such technique for several groups, including pregnant women. The aim of this clinical essay was to check the use of the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment in pregnant women of the public system in Feira de Santana Bahia. The sample consisted of 35 pregnant women who underwent 84 class-I restorations and 71 dental sealants with GIC Ketac Molar EasyMix. After anamnesis and clinical examinations, a semi-structured form was filled out on oral hygiene and dietary practices, and on the extent of the technical acceptance. This group was inserted into a health promotion program with speeches, supervised brushings and plaque rate collection. An examiner carried out clinical evaluation of the restorations and of the sealants after a six-month period, through standard scores (0-9) which were later turned into success (0, 1 and 7) and unsuccess (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8). It has been used the successful criterion for the sealants (present or partial loss) and the unsuccessful one (total loss). After the systematization of the collected data, it was observed success in 90,5% for ART and 85,9% for sealants. With regard to the program, 71,4% pregnant women reported changes in oral hygiene and 54,3% in dietary habits. A significant difference occurred between the initial and final averages of the plaque rates, being such reduction, on average, 17,71%. The extent of technical acceptance was 100%. It has been concluded that ART is feasible as a tooth decay treatment alternative in pregnant women inserted in a preventive educational program. It has been inferred that more researches have to be carried out, promoting the development of public policies which increase the use of ART in pregnant women.