Perception of children’s caregivers on non-attendance to dental appoitnments in public oral health care system

Objective: Understand the reasons of caregivers for no-show of under-fives to dental treatment in the public health system. Method: The qualitative methodology was used with a sample of caregivers of children who failed to attend scheduled appointment, totaling 18 participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, then recorded, transcribed, separated in themes and categorized for later content analysis. Results: The study found that caregivers are often the mothers, who in average have two children and a family monthly income of a minimum wage. Statements showed that although aware that children need dental treatment, these mothers struggle to take them to appointments for lack of free time at work. Other reasons include low parental knowledge of oral health; forgetting appointments, as theinterval between scheduling and the actual appointment is too long; child feeling unwell on the appointment date; and lack of another person to take the child to the Healthcare Unit in the mother’s absence. Conclusion: It is important to include caregiver counseling when planning oral health care strategies for children. Besides, changing the way how visits are scheduled, such as issuing reminders as visit dates approach or having alternative working hours, could benefit patients’ use of this service.