• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.317-322
• /
• 2006

Dental caries in children has declined over the past few decades. However, Certain populations of children experience high levels of dental disease. To perform the highest quality dental care for the pediatric patient, the practitioner may need to use pharmacological means to obtain a quiescent, cooperative patient. Furthermore, complex treatment can impose high demands on the very young, making use of general anesthesia the preferred approach for some patients. General anesthesia is widely used to provide comprehensive dental treatment for children in USA and Europe and Scandinavia etc. Parental and patient satisfaction following completion of dental care under general anesthesia is reportedly high. Dental general anesthesia has disadvantage that it is expansive and carries a small but significant risk of mortality. However, It has the advantage of permitting treatment at a single visit, allowing immediate relief of pain and requiring little or no cooperation from the child. Rampant caries was the major indication for use of general anesthesia in the youngest age group or medically compromised patients. This study describe the characteristics of patient receiving comprehensive dental treatment under general anesthesia at the pediatric dentistry of Chonbuk National University Hospital in Jeonju, Korea in the 4year period between December 2001 and April 2005.