Technological organization in oral health in SUS: an archeology of national policy for oral health

Abstract

This article discusses the technological organization of care models for the oral health in the light of the National Oral Health Policy. The theoretical and methodological framework for this study was structured from a history of oral health policies in Brazil, seeking to understand the operative knowledge which guided practice in the field. The approach of health policies proceeded according to the theory of the work of M. Foucault The Archaeology of Knowledge. This was used to review normative SUS (Brazilian National Health System) documents and publications for the period 2000-2012. We sought to uncover, from the technological organization (analysis category) how such policies see the health needs of the population and what tools/technologies are offered in oral health care. The SUS has sought to replace models of work organization that transform the practice of dental care (ineffective, low coverage, monopolistic, low resolution, poorly distributed geographically and socially), with models aimed at health promotion. The collection of articles on the current PNSB highlight a modus operandi in services underpinned by pragmatic dentistry, full of conflicts and contradictions. In order to transform NOHP guidelines into oral health practice with new technological arrangements in the labor process, other forms of bonding and commitment are desirable. It is necessary to rethink the technology of oral health care as a possibility with comprehensive care and its legitimacy as a component of health in a larger expression: quality of life.