Percepção, Conhecimento e Habilidades de Cuidadores em Saúde Bucal de Idosos Acamados Perception, Knowledge and Skills in Caregivers of Oral Health in Bedridden Elderly

The aging process has brought many consequences for society, one of which is the need of home care and the imposition of determination and training of those who are responsible for this function. A new actor in health care emerges from that process - the caregivers of elders. Objectives: The aim of this research was to know the caregiver of elders profile, their perception, knowledge and abilities of this professional related to oral health. Methods: This research was characterized as qualitative exploratory study. Data source consisted in nine home caregivers of bedridden elders, corresponding to the universe of caregivers enrolled in the Extension Project Interdisciplinary Comprehensive Care for the Elderly, developed by health care courses at the University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Campus Tubarao, 2010. For data collection a semi-structured interview was used. Results: Results show that despite caregivers acknowledged the importance of oral health integrality, sometimes there were lack of knowledge and ability enough to perform such caring, remaining concerns mostly on dental prosthesis care, especificaccu on hygiene practices, instead of stabilizing and protecting oral mucosa. Conclusions: In the results, it was implicit the absence of the elders, denoted by information that the protesis hygienization is the most important act in elderly oral health.