Sedation
Meghan K. Thorburn, DDS (she/her/hers)
Pediatric Resident
University of Texas — Houston, Houston, TX
UT School of Dentistry at Houston
Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Brett T. Chiquet, DDS, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of Research
UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry
University of Texas School of Dentistry
Houston, Texas, United States
Deniz Dishman, CRNA
UT Houston School of Nursing
Aaron Glick, DDS
UT Houston School of Nursing
Alice K. Pazmino, DDS, MSD, MBA
UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston
Bhavani Acharya, DDS
Program Director
UT School of Dentistry at Houston
Houston, Texas, United States
Brett T. Chiquet, DDS, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of Research
UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry
University of Texas School of Dentistry
Houston, Texas, United States
Purpose: The aim of this retrospective study is to identify the incidence of parental reported post-discharge events (PDEs) following moderate sedation of pediatric dentistry patients and to determine the sedation regimen and patient-specific factors that are related to the incidence of PDEs.
Methods: Pediatric patients under the age of 18 that underwent sedation from 2011-2022 at the UT Graduate Pediatric program were included in the study. Information was gathered from Electronic Patient Record. The following information was collected: age, weight, height, pre/post-op vitals, BMI, Brodsky and Mallampati scores, history of snoring/OSA/bruxism/mouth-breathing, sedation medications, medication dosages and time given, intra-operative complications, and post-op call information.
Results: Two-thousand charts selected, with parents answering the phone and data being obtained for 1076 records. Post discharge events recorded were excessive sleepiness, pain, nausea/vomiting, angry/agitated and issues with restorations. Excessive sleepiness was noted in 18% of patients and pain in 16%. Post sedation complications associated with decreased Brodsky score (P=.015) and increased BMI (P=.022). No difference based on patient factors of age (P=.66), gender (P=.38), length to discharge (P=.113), history of snoring (P=.64), mouth-breathing (P=1), OSA (P=.48), or bruxism (P=.17). Meperidine trended to more complications (P=.07), with no difference for midazolam or diazepam.
Conclusion: Increase in BMI and decrease in Brodsky are associated with an increase in post-op complications. This suggests increased screening is necessary for these patients prior to sedations.