La salud bucal en la percepción del adolescente

Objective An individual does not always experience the best health and vitality indexes during her/his adolescence. This study evaluated young people's awareness of their oral health and the factors involved in dental maintenance and promotion Material and Method Adolescents (n=493) from the Mirim Foundation in the town of Araçatuba in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, were asked to fill in a semi-structured questionnaire. Results 68.4 % of the youngsters interviewed regarded oral health as referring to hygiene and 16.2 % to physical appearance; 53.6 % of the group perceived their oral health to be good and 24 % optimum. 90.1 % indicated oral hygiene when asked how oral health could be ensured; however, only 4.8 % mentioned brushing their tongues. Physical appearance (62.9 %) was one of the main reasons stated as being important for teeth. A statistically significant relationship was observed between perception of regular dental and mouth health and having visited the dentist at least six months beforehand (x2=30.75; p<0.05). Conclusion Even though the youngsters had a general idea regarding their oral health, its maintenance and promotion, better information should be made available regarding such topics and be approached through health education so that these adolescents can have good oral health for the rest of their lives, as well as becoming knowledge multiplying agents for those who do not have access to the same information.

Higienización de las manos: el cotidiano del profesional de la salud en una unidad de internación pediátrica

Objective. To describe behaviors related to hand cleaning in health professionals who work in the pediatric inpatient unit of a university hospital. Methodology. Descriptive study, in which the studied population was the sanitary staff who worked in a pediatric inpatient unit of a university hospital, there were a total of 43 people. Information was collected through an observation process and a survey applied on hand washing techniques, at the beginning of the study and a month later of the first one. Results. In just 7% of the observations, participants washed their hands before developing the procedure; one out of two followed the steps described in the technique. The most frequent failure in hand washing was presented in the step of rubbing the right hand palm over the left had dorsum, crossing the fingers and vice versa (18%). Conclusion. Participants of the study didn’t have the habit to wash their hands according to the recommended technique. Data suggest the necessity to promote educational actions to change staff behaviors and attitudes towards the steps and techniques of hand washing before and after performing any procedure.