Dental care, for pre-surgical evaluation, of patients undergoing surgery for heart valve replacement

Abstract

Introduction: The health system aims to ensure the improvement of both individual and collective health. In Argentina, where health is recognized by the National Constitution itself as a right, the system is mixed where social security, the offer of public management services, and the private sector coexist) and access to health care is assumed to be guaranteed. For central cardiovascular surgical procedures, consultation with a dentist is mandatory in order to avoid infectious endocarditis, a very common complication.
Objective: to evaluate the type of care that patients access when this consultation is indicated from a public hospital that does not have the service in the hospital itself.
Method: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out, where 65 medical records of patients who underwent valve replacement surgeries at the El Cruce Hospital in Florencio Varela were evaluated, in the period from January to December 2021. An observational guide was used to collect data. 
Results: It was determined that 75.5% of the patients treated did not have social security coverage, compared to 24.5% who did have social security or prepaid insurance, and that of the former, 97% accessed the consultation through the public health system, leaving only 3% within the so-called “disadjustment area” where the system does not fulfill its purpose.
Conclusions: The Argentine public health system, specifically in health region VI, works correctly.