Atividades extensionistas de educação em saúde bucal para pacientes da terceira idade: relato de experiência

This is a descriptive study of the experience report type with the purpose of describing the extension actions developed by the project “Promotion of Oral Health for Elderly Patients” developed by the State University of Londrina at the Pastoral of the Elderly and Long-Stay Institutions for the Elderly in the city of Londrina/PR and region. These actions were developed by students, professors, and civil servants in 2017, 2018, and 2019 through lectures and talk sessions on healthy eating habits, diseases caused by prosthetics, and oral diseases. Additionally, supervised individual and collective toothbrushing, cleaning of prosthetics, physical examination and self-examination were developed. In relation to the results, it was observed that the activities allowed the students to identify the reality of that population, sharing knowledges and experiences on oral health with clear and accessible information for the community. Furthermore, this opportunity allowed the students to establish effective social bonds, improve their decision-making process, leadership, proactivity, and protagonism. It also favored the contextualized and integral training of the students, with befitting attitudes to provide care for the elderly and their caregivers in diversified scenarios. Therefore, the extension activities were powerful strategies for the students to strengthen the professional training through health education work with the elderly and their caregivers.