Em busca de uma educação política para estudantes de Odontologia: percepções acerca do fenômeno político e suas aproximações

Considering humanistic education as a necessary condition for political formation in dentistry, this study aimed to identify students perceptions about politics in contents of the discipline of community oral health and if it is possible, through these contents, to build a political education of these students. For this, a research-action type educational intervention was conducted where the pedagogical scenario was the curricular discipline 'Public health II' of the Dental Course of Universidade de Pernambuco (UPE), Campus Arcoverde. Seventeen students of the 2 nd Semester participated in the research making reviews about their perceptions about politics from the content studied in the discipline. A content analysis method according Bardin was used to set up whether the content identified as ‘politics’ approached a political literacy. A total of 185 views about politics which were grouped into eight categories: 'Movement of Dentistry between full perspective and technical perspective', 'Information as an essential requirement', 'Public health policies (implementation via State)', 'Stakeholder involvement in decision-making',' Planning of health practices', 'The formation of the dentist', 'Knowledge of Public Oral health' and 'Ministerial Decrees'. 70.3% of these ideas seem to serve as a political literacy. In conclusion, there seems to be an educational path that can be followed to obtain a political literacy of dental students investigated.