This study sought to evaluate which health system - either the Family Health Strategy (FHS) or the traditional model established in the Basic Health Units (BHU) - was more effective during the period between 2007 and 2009 in relation to the oral health needs of the population of the city of Marilia in the state of São Paulo. It involved a retrospective ecological study with a stratified random sample of 50% of the universe of the study area for the 12 BHU and 37% of the 29 Family Health Units (FHU) in the municipality, whereby 6 BHU and 11 FHS were randomly selected. The data collected for observation were gathered through the management reports of the SIAB and Oral Health Assessment Report information systems. Exploratory data analysis and the Student t test were performed in order to analyze the resolubility of different systems of health care. It was observed that the coefficients relating to Initial Dental Treatment were not statistically different, though with respect to the Completed Initial Treatment coefficient for the population greater than two years the values were 16.74 for the FHS model and 6.93 for the BHU model, with a statistically significant difference of 40.97% resolubility for the BHU in relation to 83.56% for the FHS (p < 0.05).