A educação em saúde e suas representações entre alunos de um curso de odontologia Health education and their representations among dental students

A educação em saúde é um importante instrumento para se promover a participação ativa das pessoas na conquista de sua autonomia. Desta forma, este estudo exploratório, de abordagem qualitativa, objetivou avaliar as representações em educação em saúde de graduandos de um curso de odontologia, trazendo à tona dados para a discussão sobre quais concepções têm sustentado suas práticas educativas. Os dados foram coletados por meio de um instrumento contendo a seguinte questão: particularmente, o que você entende por educação em saúde? O mesmo foi aplicado em 67 acadêmicos do último ano do curso, perfazendo 85,3 % da população-alvo. A análise dos dados foi realizada segundo os pressupostos metodológicos qualitativos do discurso do sujeito coletivo. Os resultados evidenciaram que o conceito de educação em saúde dos acadêmicos está fortemente ligado ao conceito positivista de ensinamento, instrução e prevenção de doenças, pautados na ideia de que a falta de informações dos indivíduos é que os induz a não exercerem práticas saudáveis em saúde, sendo função do profissional educar as pessoas neste sentido. Observou-se a necessidade de estratégias de ensino-aprendizagem voltadas a transformar a representação da educação em saúde por parte dos acadêmicos.<br>Health education is an important instrument to promote the active participation ofpeople in becoming self-reliant. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study, conducted using a qualitative approach, was to evaluate the extent of representation in health education, of undergraduates in a dentistry course, and reveal data for discussion about the concepts that have sustained their educational practices. Data were collected by means of an instrument containing the following question: What do you particularly understand by health education? The instrument was applied to 67 academic students in the last year of the course, comprising 85.3% of the target population. Data analysis was performed according to the qualitative methodological presuppositions of Discourse of the Collective Subject. The results showed that the academic students'concept of health education was strongly linked to the positivist concept of teaching,instruction and disease prevention, rooted in the idea that the lack of information by individuals is the factor that induces them not to perform healthy practices with regard to their health, and it was the professional's responsibility to educate people on the subject of health. The need was observed for teaching-learning strategies directed towards changing the academic students' representation in health education

In vitro evaluation of fluoride products in the development of carious lesions in deciduous teeth

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the application of fluoride products on the development of enamel caries in deciduous teeth. A total of 108 deciduous teeth were chosen for the study. Acid-resistant varnish was applied on the teeth, leaving only one area of 5 mm x 1 mm of dental enamel exposed. The teeth were allocated randomly to one of the following groups: 1) control - toothpaste without fluoride; 2) 1.23% fluoride gel; 3) Duraflur fluoride varnish; 4) Duraphat fluoride varnish; 5) Fluorniz fluoride varnish; 6) Fluorphat fluoride varnish; 7) varnish with Duofluorid; 8) 12% silver fluoride diamine (Cariestop); 9) children's fluoride toothpaste (500 ppm). The tested products were applied on the teeth according to the manufacturer's recommendations and the teeth were stored in a moist environment for 24 hours. Each group of teeth was then subjected to a pH cycling model for 14 days, after which the teeth were cut through the center for an analysis of the depth of the carious lesion by polarized light microscopy. Comparisons were made between the treatments and the control group. The mean lesion depth values were 318 &#956;m ± 39 (control), 213 &#956;m ± 27 (fluoride gel), 203 &#956;m ± 34 (Duraflur), 133 &#956;m ± 25 (Duraphat), 207 &#956;m ± 27 (Fluor-niz), 212 &#956;m ± 27 (Fluorphat), 210 ± 28 (Duofluorid), 146 ± 31 (Cariestop) and 228 ± 24 (fluoride toothpaste). None of the products used here was able to completely prevent the formation of lesions. The highest cariostatic effect was achieved by fluoride varnish Duraphat and the lowest by the fluoride toothpaste