Until 2004, the oral health care provided by the Brazilian public service was restricted primarily to low-complexity procedures. With the structuring and implementation of National Oral Health Policy (Brazil Smiling Program), the types of dental services performed and the number of Brazilians attended was expanded and now it reaches about 86.5 million.

The Brazil Smiling program was designed to perform actions of oral health promotion, prevention, recovery and rehabilitation, from the assumption that it is essential to people's general health and quality of life. Besides, from the epidemiological point of view, it was based on the Brazilian Oral Health Survey (SB-Brazil) , the largest survey already accomplished in the Country and that counted with the support of ABO National.

In practice, the program promoted, until April 2009, the implantation of 13,614 new Oral Health Teams , composed of dentists and dental assistants, to 4,587 Brazilian municipalities. The federal government's goal for this year is to reach 20,500 teams. The special procedures in Endodontics, Minor Oral Surgery, Periodontics, oral diagnosis, care to patients with special needs and others are made in the Dental Specialty Centers, which sum 675 throughout the country. From January 2005 to September 2008, more than 17 million dental procedures were performed at these centers. To set up this whole structure, the Ministry of Health provided, from the beginning of Brazil Smiling, 6 thousand dental offices.

The program is also addressed to meet the demand for rehabilitation with dental prostheses and, to that, it foresees the implantation of Dental Prosthesis Laboratories. In April this year, the service has already had 323 laboratories. The actions implemented are also focused on prevention of dental caries, by the addition of fluoride in public water supply. Thus, from 2005 to December 2008, 711 new fluoridation systems were implanted, covering 503 municipalities and benefiting 7.6 million people.

According to the National Oral Health Coordination of the Ministry of Health, the goal of investments in the Brazil Smiling, from 2007 to 2010, is more than R$ 2.7 billion.

40 million kits

To support educational and preventive measures, the Brazilian government is also incorporating to the oral health program, by the end of 2009, 40.6 million kits with toothbrush and toothpaste for adults and children. The kits will be made available to all Oral Health Teams and about 8 million of them will be delivered to students from schools located in areas with low Basic Education Development Index (Ideb) , reaching 1,158 municipalities. According to the Chief Dental Office of Ministry of Health, Gilberto Alfredo Pucca Jr., the kits distribution will be continuous. "This is the largest incorporation program of oral health preventive measures in the world, in terms of quantity and impact," said Pucca. And adds: "So, it is no longer a privilege of those who have money to buy toothpaste and brush and becomes a right of every citizen."

The Smiling Brazil Program also reaches the most deprived regions of the country through the inclusion of its initiatives in another program, the Territories of Citizenship , addressed to the sustainable social and regional development of these areas, promoting the universalization of basic citizenship programs . The National Oral Health Policy is present even in programs intended to provide primary care and specialized health care to indigenous peoples.

Strengthened program

ABO supports the Brazil Smiling and wants it to continue growing and continue being taken to the interior of the country and to rural areas. With this aim, since 2007, the organization has been asking the representatives of the Ministry of Health and even the President for more oral health resources. Another important demand is the creation of a permanent space for Oral Health in the Ministry of Health so that the program is not only a measure of the current administration. We have to think about the future and o we raise this flag ", says the president of ABO National, Norberto Lubiana.