[Oral health care in the health network and the regionalization process]

The scope of this article is to outline the construction of the regionalized health network, focusing on oral health care and identifying the problems and the progress in its implementation. The context was the proposed national network model in the policies that underpin the Unified Health System. This is a descriptive-exploratory study with a qualitative approach methodologically supported by Grounded Theory. Interviews were conducted with managers, health professionals and teachers graduated in Dentistry, forming three sample groups. The core category was named "Enhancing the interaction of oral health care in the health network in the regionalization process." In the proposed theoretical model, the enhancement of interaction arises from conditions such as: the characterization of oral health care in the regionalized health network; the identification of difficulties in the implementation process; and the analysis of the operation of the oral health care network. The inclusion of oral health in the network is at an early stage, sometimes detached from the set of relations that constitutes the health network, which is also being consolidated. Evidence gathered in this study indicates the structuring of the regionalized health care network as a prerequisite to raise oral health care and assistance to a new level.