Explorando fatores que influenciam na prevenção da cárie dentária no atendimento odontológico do serviço público do Estado do Paraná, Brasil

This study aimed to explore the views of dentists working for the Brazilian health system, in regards to the prevention of dental caries. Semi-structured face to face interviews were held with 18 dentists working in the state of Parana, Brazil. Data was recorded, manually transcribed and analyzed with a software, based content analysis. Results revealed 13 factors favoring prevention, of which 4 were considered new emerging factors, not previously described in the literature. Among the main factors to influence caries prevention were: the preventive conscientiousness of dentists, professional training received and the organization of the service. The results found indicated that the implementation of prevention depends on several factors such as the training received by dental students, changes in the public dental care provided by expanding the Family Health Strategy and changes in clinicians’ attitudes towards prevention through more effective public policies involving the community.