"Ser criança"

: promoção de saúde oral e conhecimento científico na população portuguesa com condições socioeconómicas desfavorecidas

Abstract

Introduction: Although there has been a lot of progress in child oral health in Portugal, subgroups of children still suffer from high levels of dental caries. The existence of geographical and socio-economic barriers and the lack of access to primary dental care puts these children at risk, in order to resolve this situation this study focused on the creation of tools to shorten the distances between these children and primary and preventive dental care. Materials and Methods: The work carried out will be with the purpose of producing a diagnostic protocol through the use of telemedicine in pediatric pacients, following the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). A literature review on the subject was carried out, partnerships were implemented, and preliminary contacts were made with the target institution. Results: A tutorial was created with the objective of instructing caregivers to photograph the oral cavity of children, and a specific procedure was defined in detail to evaluate them, additionally, a correct sequence of events was elaborated to perform a telemedicine consultation. Conclusion: Once finalized, we can assess that the creation of the protocol has the potential to become an asset in terms of prevention and early diagnosis in oral health, providing the dentist with information for proper screening, which will not only improve the quality of the diagnosis, treatment plan and future interventions, but also the overall standard of living of the intervened child.

Date of Award	19 Jul 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Nélio Jorge Veiga (Supervisor), Ana Sofia Duarte (Co-Supervisor) & Anna Moura (Co-Supervisor)