ORAL REHABILITATION IN THE BRAZILIAN PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM: AN ANALYSIS OF OUTPATIENT PRODUCTIVITY FROM 2015 TO 2024

Abstract

Edentulism remains one of the main oral health conditions in Brazil, especially among adults and the elderly, generating high demand for oral rehabilitation procedures in the public health system. In this context, the objective of this study was to analyze the outpatient productivity related to oral rehabilitation in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) between 2015 and 2024. This was an ecological, retrospective, and quantitative study structured as a time series. Public data from the Ambulatory Information System related to 13 oral rehabilitation procedures were analyzed, grouped into three categories: dental prostheses, dental implants, and laboratory prosthesis fabrication. Incidence rates were standardized per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Time trend analysis was performed using Prais-Winsten regression, with a significance level of 5%. A total of 27,401,150 oral rehabilitation procedures were recorded in SUS over the period. Of these, 70.0% corresponded to dental prostheses, 29.4% to laboratory fabrication, and only 0.6% to dental implants. The most frequent procedures were dental impression and prosthesis installation (including complete removable, partial removable, and fixed prostheses), with incidence rates of 4,001 and 2,151 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. Only two procedures showed a significant increasing trend: the fabrication of upper removable partial dentures (p = 0.001) and lower removable partial dentures (p = 0.004). It is concluded that oral rehabilitation in SUS between 2015 and 2024 was characterized by a high volume of prosthetic procedures, mainly moldings and installations. Dental implants represented a very small share of the total. Only the fabrication of removable partial dentures showed significant increase.

Keywords: Dentistry; Public Health Services; Oral Rehabilitation; Dental Care.