A Statistical Analysis of the General Anesthesia for Dental Treatment to Children with Developmental Disability

장애 환자의 소아치과 치료 시 전신마취에 대한 통계적 고찰

Background: The management of the behavior of handicapped children when providing required dental care is often a problem, whether in the dental office or in a hospital setting. Because of the high incidence of poor cooperation, many of these patients are scheduled for dental care under general anesthesia with preoperative medical assessment. The purpose of this study was to carry out a clinico-statistical survey on dental treatment for handicapped children under general anesthesia. Methods: After approval from the institutional review board, the medical records of 64 handicapped children between 1997 and 2002 were reviewed to determine the patient profiles, anesthesia management, and complications. The charts of these patients, who underwent dental examination, scaling and prophylaxis, and restoration and extraction of teeth under general anesthesia, were reviewed. Results: The mean age was 12.8 years old, and males (53%) predominated females (47%). Twenty-four patients had mental retardation, twelve had autism, six had cerebral palsy, 4 had behavior disorder, others had heart disease, convulsive disorder, etc. Sixty-two had intravenous thiopental with neuromuscular blocker, 2 had intravenous ketamine induction. Nasotracheal intubation was uneventful in 55 patients, nine had orotracheal intubation because of difficult visualization of the larynx. Twenty-one patients experienced postoperative complications in the recovery room, including epistaxis, nasal obstruction, vomiting, airway obstruction, respiratory depression. Conclusions: General anesthesia is a very effective way of completing the dental treatments for disabled children. We emphasize the need to train anesthesiologists in the care of disabled patients.