[Development of secondary dental care: a study on specialized dental clinics in Pernambuco State, Brazil].

This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the Specialized Dental Care Centers in Pernambuco State, Brazil, based on secondary outpatient treatment data from 2006 and standards and criteria adopted to implement these services. The study describes the overall achievement of targets by these specialized dental clinics and variables for characterization of the dental services and municipalities (counties). The methodology included descriptive analysis and non-parametric correlation analysis (Spearman coefficient), with significance set at 5%. Of the 22 specialized dental clinics, 40.9% showed good performance, and 81.8% met the target for basic dental care, as compared to 13.6% that met the target for minor oral surgery. Among the independent variables, only population size and Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) were correlated with the performance of the specialized dental clinics: the smaller the city (r = 0.678; p < 0.001) and the lower the MHDI (r = 0.599; p < 0.001), the worse the performance. The findings suggest that standardization of the implementation and functioning of specialized dental clinics should be monitored and evaluated in order to ensure better quality of services for the population.