[Prevention and detection of oral cancer: participatory planning as a strategy to broaden coverage in the elderly...

With respect to addressing oral cancer as a public health problem and the need to conduct early diagnosis to ensure a favorable prognosis for patients, the city of Marilia in the state of São Paulo stages an annual campaign for prevention and early detection of oral cancer. This study sets out to evaluate the participatory planning of the teams at health facilities, seeking to list the difficulties encountered and strategies adopted over a five-year period (2006-2011) by analyzing the coverage of oral examinations for prevention and detection of disease. Strategies for tackling difficulties, issues of epidemiological coordination and surveillance raised by dentists, generated an increase in the coverage of tests performed in the population (> 60 years) from 21% in 2006 to 62% in 2011. The conclusion is that the development of strategies with the participation of health teams produces quite encouraging results, ensuring that the lesions of oral cancer are diagnosed and treated early from the perspective of a more favorable prognosis.