Characteristics of children undergoing dental treatment under general anesthesia

Abstract EN

Objective : this retrospective study was carried out to describe the characteristics of children undergoing dental treatment under general anesthesia in relation to age, gender, health status and to assess the indications and the type of dental procedures based on records received at Prince Hashem Hospital Zarka City.

Methods : records of children who were treated under general anesthesia between July 2007 and July 2009 were reviewed and the data collected included age of patients at time of treatment, gender, medical status, indication for treatment under general anesthesia, and type of procedure.

Results : A total of 128 patient records were available for the present study out of a total of 145 child patients; some of the required data were not completely available for the study.

There were 69 (53.9 %) males and 59 (46.1 %) females.

The age range of children was between 2-14 years with the mean age of 6.3 years.

The most common indication for treatment under general anesthesia was lack of cooperation of children for dental treatment in the dental clinic (50.8 %) followed by presence of extensive dental caries (26.5 %).

Medically compromised patients (17.2 %) formed the next group and included patients with syndromes, cardiac diseases, autism and achondroplasia.

Most of the cases had dental restorations and extractions and few cases were admitted for surgical procedures Conclusion : it was concluded that lack of cooperation of children was the main indication for having dental treatment under general anesthesia and this option was very helpful for this group of patients.

The main procedures carried out were dental restorations and extractions.