Sedation
Caroline Lambert, DDS
Peds Dental Resident
NYU Lutheran Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
NYU Langone Hospitals-Advanced Education in Pediatric Dentistry Program
Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Destynee Horner, DMD
NYU Langone
Sydney Parker, DDS
NYU Langone
Daniel J. Kane, DMD, MA
Program Director
NYU Langone Hospitals
Brooklyn, New York, United States
David M. Okuji, DDS, MBA, MS
Senior Associate Director
NYU Langone Health
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Purpose: To evaluate patient safety outcomes between sedation and general anesthesia behavioral treatment methods for children with early childhood caries.
Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted as a sub-study of a multi-site research project that compared the prevalence of morbidity and mortality events in children with early childhood caries under sedation or general anesthesia from 2010-2019.
Results: Analysis of 2,484 dental records was completed to evaluate three safety outcome measures. Most of the dental records reviewed were for children between 4 to less than 5 years of age 675 (27.2%), 1296 (52.2%) male, and 1187 (47.8%) female. Review of 1098 general anesthesia records noted no increase in incidence of oxygen saturation events below 90% with an increase in time spent under general anesthesia (p=0.54). Review of 2484 records noted no significant difference in wrong site treatment when comparing sedation and general anesthesia treatment modalities (p=0.52). Evaluation of 1347 records noted no significant difference in the prevalence of soft tissue damage events with or without protective stabilization for children treated under sedation (p=0.704).
Conclusions: Although the results show no statistical significance regarding the adverse outcomes discussed during dental treatment in children undergoing general anesthesia or sedation, dentists should continue to practice these treatment modalities with the utmost diligence to provide great care and safety to their patients. The findings also serve to reassure parents and caregivers of the low risk of the studied morbidities with dental treatment under sedation and general anesthesia.