Use and Access to Oral Health Services of SUS - A Comparison between Rural and Urban Populations

Objective: To compare the access to and use of dental services at public health units (SUS) between the rural and urban populations. Method: This was a quantitative, cross-sectional, population-based study, with a random and representative sample of the population registered in family health units in two small-sized cities of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. The sample of participants was calculated referring to the people "age / age group indexes": 5 years, 12 years, 15 to 19 years and 33 to 44 years. The total sample, discounting the "losses", included 1049 individuals in the city “A” and 949 in city “B”. Descriptive and analytical method with the chi-square test was used. Results: In the city “A”, 80% of respondents said they had gone to the dentist at least once in their lifetime, compared with 67.6% from the city “B”, being 80.1% of the urban population and 79.9% of the rural population in the city “A” and 64.4% of the urban population and 70.8% of the rural in the city “B” However, in the 15-19-year-old age group in both cities, this difference was not significant. In the city “A”, 70.5% of the respondents considered the public dental services good or excellent, while in “B”, 64.5% had the same opinion. Conclusion: The average population in the city “A” presented wider access and better use of the SUS oral health services, compared with the city “B”. However, adolescents and residents of rural areas remain in an unfavorable situation. These findings can be best characterized by further studies to investigate the determinants related to dental service organization.