Profile of Patients with Special Needs Assisted at a Brazilian University

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the profile of patients with special needs assisted at a Dentistry School of a Brazilian University. Material and Methods: A retrospective and descriptive study was carried out through the analysis of 329 dental records from individuals with special needs assisted at the Dentistry for Special Needs Patients discipline between 2012 and 2017. Data on gender, age, race, monthly family income, schooling, medical diagnosis of the disabling condition, drug used and type of dental procedures performed were reviewed. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics (Shapiro-Wilk and t-student tests) with 5% significance level. Results: There was higher prevalence of females (50.5%) aged 45-54 years (18.7%), low schooling (36.2%) and monthly income of 1 minimum wage (61.9%). Most special needs were chronic systemic diseases (67.2%) and endocrine-metabolic diseases (16.7%). Among patients investigated, 66.3% used anti-hypertensive (38.3%) and anti-inflammatory (20.6%) drugs. Of dental procedures performed, curative procedures were the most prevalent in the majority of patients (90.6%). Conclusion: The profile of most patients with special needs was characterized by females with chronic systemic diseases and mean age of 39.6 years, low schooling and monthly family income of up to 1 minimum wage, whose main reason for the visit was the search for curative dental treatment.