Abstract
This study aimed to understand the relationship between oral health technicians and dental surgeons in work and the factors that may promote or hinder this relationship. To analyze the perception oral health technicians have regarding possible agreements and disagreements in their working relationship with dental surgeons, a focus group was held with eight of those workers from the National Health System working at the municipalities encompassed by the Vitória metro region, in Espírito Santo, Brazil. The thematic content analysis revealed three categories: Profile and labor market; Working and infrastructure conditions, and Vocational training, work processes, and interpersonal relationships. The complexity of the work was shown, within the field of interests, power and resistance, involving both the technicians and dental surgeons, in a behavior generator matrix. These workers' training system, the infrastructure, working conditions, and the professionals' profile also influence the oral health team's work process heavily. Communication was seen as a mediator in this, building new encounters. It is considered that there are many barriers to the relationship between oral health care technicians and dental surgeons at work, and mediation is seen to be possible through communication, building new meeting grounds, and representing alternatives to the desecration of what has been instituted, overcoming the challenges in the power relations.
Keywords
Technical health personnel; dentistry in public health; inter-professional relations; human resources in dentistry