The impact of medical status on the choice of dental procedures under general anesthesia—a retrospective study

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the type of dental procedures performed on children under General Anesthesia (GA) and to determine if the pattern differs between healthy children and those with special healthcare needs. Methods: In this retrospective study, data were reviewed from the dental records of pediatric patients who underwent dental treatment under GA from 2015 to 2020 at Nantes University Hospital. Patients with mental or physical disabilities were categorized as Disabled (D), while healthy children were assigned to the Healthy group (H). Records from patients with Systemic Diseases were also analyzed with (D + SD) or without (SD) Disabilities. Results: The mean age of each group was evaluated and compared to the others. The number and type of dental treatments were compared between each group for both primary and permanent teeth. A total of 655 patients were treated under GA. Patients in groups H and SD were significantly younger than those in the disabled group (p < 0.001). Primary teeth were more frequently treated in groups H and SD than in groups D and SD + D, while the opposite was true for permanent teeth. There were more extractions of primary teeth than restorative treatments performed in children with disabilities (p = 0.0005). Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the health conditions of young patients could impact their dental procedures when undergoing GA. Children with systemic diseases don’t seem to differ from healthy patients in the acts performed, but patients with disabilities do.

Pediatric dentistry; Disabled children; General anesthesia; Systemic diseases

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