The participation of the dental surgeon in the multidisciplinary health team for child care in the hospital context

This is research of a qualitative nature that sought to analyze the perceptions of both the health team and users of the Pediatric Unit of the University Hospital of Santa Catarina Federal University with respect to the participation of dental surgeons in the healthcare of hospitalized children. Data were collected through interviews based on a form with semi-structured questions and analyzed by the content analysis technique and the analysis-reflection-synthesis process. Eight professionals from the health team, as well as seven caregivers and five hospitalized children took part in the interviews. The dental care provided to these children was given by students of the Undergraduate and Graduate Program in Dentistry, via an extension project of a preventive educational nature. Results revealed broad acceptance and perception of the importance of the participation of dentists in the context of the Unit as team members implementing the concept of comprehensive healthcare, and as support professionals for the health team in the care, streamlining and optimization of interdisciplinary work. Participants perceive the effective participation of dentists in the healthcare of hospitalized children as being very important and even essential.