Objective

To analyze the association between the coverage by oral health teams in the Family Health Strategy (FHS-OH) and the use of dental services among 12-year-old adolescents in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, 2019.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study involving school-based research, which adopted the use of dental services as its outcome. Structural equation modeling was used to test the association between covariates and the outcome.

Results

Of the 615 participants, 74.0% used dental services in the last three years. ESF-SB (oral health coverage by family health strategy, acronym in Portuguese) ≥50% was associated with a greater use of public dental services [standardized coefficient (SC) = 0.10 -95%CI 0.01;0.18], a lower use of these services for prevention (SC = -0.07 -95%CI -0.17;0.01) and higher unhealthy food consumption (SC = 0.19 -95%CI 0.11;0.26).

Conclusion

Higher ESF-SB coverage was associated with a lower use of dental services for prevention and higher unhealthy food consumption. Teams must organize the access to oral health service and qualify the work process.

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