Abstract

VEGA JIMENEZ, Alejandro Luis; SIFUENTES VALENZUELA, María Cristina  and  FUENTE HERNANDEZ, Javier de la. Estimation of oral health needs in adolescents. Rev. Odont. Mex [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.4, pp.237-243. ISSN 1870-199X.

The purpose of the present study was to identify the number of odontological treatments and the type by level of attention made in adolescents from 10 to 19 years-old that requested dental care in the Clinica Periferica Oriente «Dr. Salomon Evelson Guterman» in the School of Dentistry, UNAM, in agreement with the normative health necessities established by the dental professional. A transversal study was carried out using the data base from the Systematized Program of Patients Control obtained from the TRECLIP sheet. In this period, odontological service was offered to 4,979 persons, 13.9% (693) was adolescent population, being women the group that registered the highest demand in dental services and the highest percentage were between adolescents from 10 - 11 years-old. The highest percentage of treatments was placed in the second level of attention, meaning that there were more restorative treatments, which indicates that caries is still an important problem in public health, observed in the necessities expressed by the people when demanding a service in this dental clinic and in the necessity regulated by the dental professional with the kind of performed treatments. The measurement of the necessities of health allows the evaluation of the impact of the current interventions, as well as the monitoring of the health condition tendencies and the access to medical care between groups of population, as it is represented in the present study.

Keywords : Oral health; adolescents.

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