Trends in dental treatment performed on children under general anesthesia at the College of Dentistry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Objectives: This study was undertaken to compare (i) the characteristics of patients and type of dental treatment carried out on children under general anesthesia (GA) from 1992-2000 and 1982-1990; (ii) rate of compliance of patients with scheduled 6-monthly follow-up appointment during the two periods. Methods: Records of children who were treated under GA in 1992-2000 were reviewed and the data collected included age of patient at the time of treatment, gender, medical/physical status, indications for treatment and nature of treatment provided. Also the number of times parents brought their children for the 6-monthly recall appointment was recorded. Data for the years 1982-1990 which had earlier been reported were used for comparison. Results: Results showed that, in general, the characteristics of patients regarding age and gender have not changed during the two periods except that more children aged 6-10 years were treated in 1992-2000 than earlier period. Conclusions: Behavior management problem coupled with extensive caries continues to be the major reasons for using GA to treat pediatric dental patients. There were more surgical procedures done in 1982-1990 than in 1992-2000. Also significantly more extractions, stainless steel crowns and pulpotomies were done in 1992-2000. Parental compliance with 6-monthly recall appointment was generally low, nevertheless significantly more patients turned up in 1982-1990 than in 1992-2000.