Dental Treatment in Children under General Anaesthesia

Abstract

The caries experience of pre-school children has been increasing over the last years. The defects of primary teeth are often so extensive that multiple extractions are necessary. Most of these patients are unable to cooperate due to low age and extend of the treatment. Dental treatment under general anaesthesia is then the method of choice. The aim of this paper is to present our results and experiences of treatment of children in general anaesthesia. The total number of 185 patients (110 boys, 75 girls) aged 6 month to 16 years has been treated within the period from 1.1. 2004 till 31.12. 2006. 1414 teeth have been treated, from which 1292 (91,3%) deciduous and 122 (8,7%) permanent. The most frequent type of treatment was extractions (1174), mainly of primary teeth (1109), and restorations (240). More than half of the treated deciduous teeth were the first and second molars (58,7%), followed by upper incisors (28,8%) and then other teeth, less then 10%. The authors did not record any complication in the course of treatment and immediately afterwards, requiring unplanned hospitalisation of the outpatient and unfavourably affecting the health status of the child. There was no negative experience in children after the treatment in general anaesthesia, which would result in subsequent refuse of dental care.

Keywords

• dental treatment
• children
• general anaesthesia