Conceptions of health promotion present at the National Oral Health Conferences

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the National Oral Health Conferences, with emphasis on design and foundations of health promotion, as an alignment of the social role played by dentistry. Methods: It is a descriptive study, conducted with basis on the documentary analysis of the final reports of the three national conferences of oral health, available on the website of the Ministry of Health. The analysis in this evidence-based research was inspired by the reference of thematic analysis to grasp the existing concepts and foundations of health promotion. Results: It was observed that dentistry was gradually incorporating the sense and meaning of health promotion as a guiding reference for oral health strategies. It was evident that the broader view of health is part of the reports of the three conferences and that concepts of health promotion pertaining to the international scene at the time were taken even further, evidencing preventive actions of vertical character. Relevant basis for health promotion are also present, such as intersectionality, integrality of actions, equity, autonomy and popular participation. Conclusion: Such views have been of great importance for aggregation along a national oral health policy that would become a reality, years later.