Home dental service for semi and dependent elderly is a set of preventive actions and minimal intervention aimed at establishing the promotion of oral health and guidance to families and caregivers. It is considered an educational strategy and health care whose purpose is to provide multidisciplinary intervention in the health-disease process of vulnerable elderly. This report aimed to approach home dental practice, emphasizing the main systemic changes and possible repercussions in the oral cavity, the need for effective participation of surgeon-dentist and guidelines to promote oral health that may help family members, caregivers and professionals involved with this type of care. Scientific articles and bibliographic databases on the dental practice-based study in the elderly were searched and analyzed. Search strategy terms were: home care, geriatric dentistry, dental home care, frail elderly, oral health. Inclusion criteria were: published articles in Portuguese; articles indexed in the databases LILACS and SciELO; articles published from 2000 to 2011 and federal laws on the subject, totaling 36 references. It was concluded that there is a great need of home dental activity to be performed by skilled geriatric dentists with geriatric training that can contribute in humanizing care and promote well-being and quality of life for elderly people.
Home Nursing; Geriatric Dentistry; Oral Health