Dentistry for Patients with Special Needs: an analysis of the curricular structures of Dentistry courses in the Northeast region

The study aimed to analyze the curricular structures of the Dentistry courses in the Northeast region and investigate the curricular component named DPSN (Dentistry for Patients with Special Needs). This is a sectional, descriptive and quantitative study. The data were collected between June and November 2020 on the Ministry of Education’s (e-MEC) website and the educational institutions’ portals identified by analyzing the curricular structures of the courses. There were 138 authorized Dentistry courses registered on the platform; and, of these, seven were excluded for lack of an updated portal or for not having at least one formed class. Of the 131 analyzed undergraduate courses in Dentistry, it was found that 62 HEI (47.30%) offered the DPSN component, among which 53 (40.50%) offered it as a compulsory component. The state of Paraíba showed the highest frequency (n=13, 86.7%) of the courses offering the curricular component, while the state of Sergipe obtained the lowest frequency (n=1, 16.7%). It is concluded that the DPSN curricular component is little offered in the undergraduate courses in Dentistry in the Northeast region and directly impacts professionals’ training to provide better oral health care for this population.