Biotecnologia e saúde pública:suas interfaces teórico-conceituais e contribuições para pensar a Odontologia neste diálogo

This essay intends to discuss issues related to biotechnological practices aiming the improvements aimed of public health services and population needs. One focus of this discussion involves Dentistry and includes the following question: is there a place for this field in the dialogue between biotechnology and public health? According to many authors, it is necessary to analyze the applicability of biotechnological products in dental public health, as well as the guarantee of social and economical relevance related to the advancement of knowledge and application of the results especially relate to the solution of priority health problems and adapting them to the National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation in Health (NPSTIH) and the National Agenda of Priorities in Health Research (NAPHR). Therefore, the dental community needs to understand and appropriate of this subject considering it represents a challenge for the development of a public oral health, in the largest universal health system in the world.