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Do paediatric patient-related factors affect the need for a dental general anaesthetic?

British Dental Journal volume 233, pages 407–412 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Aims The aims were to determine the profile of patients referred for treatment with dental general anaesthetic (DGA) and identify patient-related factors that contributed to a child requiring a DGA.

Design setting In total, 42 patients were recruited from new patient assessment clinics at the Edinburgh Dental Institute, Scotland. Prospective questionnaires were given to the patients' caregivers with questions regarding their child's dental anxiety level, ethnicity, level of English spoken and languages spoken at home. Height and weight (BMI) measurements were taken and other information (age, sex, medical history status and postcode for level of social deprivation) were collected from their medical records.

Results Compared to the local population, children referred for treatment with DGA had a significantly decreased level of English (p = 0.0001) with an increase in non-English languages at home (p = 0.0004). Patients from minority ethnic groups (p = 0.008) and children from socially deprived areas (p = 0.0001) were significantly overrepresented. Self-reported dental anxiety was high and more common in primary than secondary school-aged children (p = 0.039).

Conclusions This study highlighted several patient-related variables that may increase the likelihood of DGA treatment. Further work is required to confirm these associations and develop interventions to reduce the number of children requiring DGAs.

Key points

  • Children from minority ethnic groups and areas of increased socioeconomic deprivation were significantly overrepresented in requiring treatment under general anaesthetic.

  • Children requiring treatment under general anaesthetic had significantly lower levels of self-reported English and significantly higher levels of non-English languages at home compared to the background population.

  • Highlights several patient-related factors that may increase the likelihood of dental treatment under general anaesthetic.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Steve Turner for his efforts with data statistical analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Edinburgh Dental Institute, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    Lewis Hua, Antoniella Busuttil-Naudi & Alexander J. Keightley

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  1. Lewis Hua
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  2. Antoniella Busuttil-Naudi
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  3. Alexander J. Keightley
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Contributions

Lewis Hua: lead author; data collection; drafting the manuscript; reviewing and editing the manuscript to create the final version; referencing. Antoniella-Busuttil-Naudi: second author; supervisor; conceptualisation; reviewing and editing the manuscript to create the final version. Alex Keightley: third author; supervisor; conceptualisation; reviewing and editing of the manuscript to create the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lewis Hua.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval was gained from the Berkshire Research Ethics Committee (19/SC/0494). For all study participants aged 16 and under, consent was given by their parent or legal guardian. Additionally, the study participants aged eight and above consented to participate in the study and to have their data used as part of the research by completing an assent form.

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Hua, L., Busuttil-Naudi, A. & Keightley, A. Do paediatric patient-related factors affect the need for a dental general anaesthetic?. Br Dent J 233, 407–412 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-022-4922-2

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