Impact of Health Promotion Practice in Private Dental Health System

Objective: To assess the impact of a new treatment systematic in a private dental health insurance system based on a dental health promotion paradigm. Method: Existing data on file from 1998 – 2003 from a dental health insurance company were statistically treated and analyzed. Three major periods were considered: pre – intervention (P1) ; transition ( P2 ) ; post – intervention (P3). Statistical treatment of data was done using several clinical procedures as variables. The results were analyzed on a monthly basis using a simple linear regression model stratified in P1 and P3. Close attention was given to identification of profiles to test the hypothesis that the new systematic would influence the number and predominance of clinical procedure performed. Results: It was previewed 2986,19 fluoride applications in P1 and 9193,69 in P3 that shows an increase of 207,87%. For amalgam's restorations it was previewed 2033 one face's restoration in P1 and 210 in P3 that shows a reduce of 89,68% . For amalgam's two and three faces restorations the preview in P1 was respectively 1604 and 587 restorations and in P3: 232 and 79 restorations. The reduce was of 85,49% for 2 faces' restorations and of 86,19% for 3 faces' restorations. The same preview was make for resin's restorations and results showed 4753 one face's restorations in P1 and 2198 in P3; 3210 two faces' restorations in P1 and 1877 in P3; 3342 three faces' restorations in P1 and 1429 in P3. The reduction in one, two and three faces' restorations was respectively of 53,76%; 41,53% and 57,22%. Comparing the results previewed in P1 and P3 all data was statistically significant (p< 0,05). Conclusion: The results suggest that changes in treatment systematic and paradigm had a positive impact on the services and reduce the total amount of restorative procedure performed.