Covid-19 in the State of Ceará: behaviors and beliefs in the arrival of the pandemic.

This study aimed to evaluate the behavioral aspects and beliefs of the population of Ceará in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire was conducted on sociodemographic aspects and opinions related to the pandemic. Absolute and relative frequencies were calculated, the association between variables was performed with Chi-square, and the level of significance was 5%.

[Self-perception of people afflicted with leprosy regarding their oral health and the need for treatment].

Leprosy is an infectious disease that has an impact from a physical, social and psychological standpoint. The scope of this study was to assess the self-perception on oral health and need for treatment in leprosy patients in the city of Fortaleza, State of Ceará, Brazil. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study, where 100 leprosy patients were given a semi-structured questionnaire to fill out.

[Strategies for management of oral cancer in primary and secondary healthcare services].

Progress in cancer management by health systems involves improvements in surveillance, organization of healthcare services, specific programs focused on primary and secondary prevention, and scientific and technical advances in diagnosis and treatment. Despite well-known progress in the management of malignant neoplasms in all the above areas, oral cancer displays persistently high morbidity and mortality rates, apparently failing to reflect the accumulated scientific knowledge on the disease. The current article discusses the reasons for this mismatch, the need for redefining priorities in oral cancer management, and the implementation of such priorities as a public health policy.

[Analysis of protection or risk factors for dental fluorosis in 6 to 8 year-old children in Fortaleza, Brazil].

Objective: To investigate protection or risk factors for dental fluorosis in permanent teeth of 6 to 8 year-old children in a neighborhood of Fortaleza, Brazil.

Methods: This case-control study included 57 controls and 67 children with fluorosis affecting superior and inferior incisors teeth as determined by the Dean classification criteria. Presence of fluorosis was considered as the dependent variable.

[Scientific output trends in oral health in Brazil].

Objective: To describe dental research trends in Brazil (especially population-based oral health) in the early Twenty-first Century.

Methods: The abstracts of studies presented at meetings of the Brazilian Society for Dental Medicine Research (Sociedade Brasileira de Pesquisa Odontológica) from 2001- 2006 were assessed in terms of methodological design (aggregate or population-based and individual-based studies, observational and intervention studies, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies); general type (literature review, studies with human subjects, and laboratory studies); and classification into one of the 19 specialty categories recognized by the Brazilian Federal Dentistry Council. Of the 10 406 abstracts presented in this period, 5 203 (50%) were reviewed.