Predicting Negative Outcomes While Awaiting Dental Treatment Under General Anesthesia.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To determine the wait time for dental treatment under general anesthesia (GA) and its impact on clinical outcomes in a pediatric population at federally qualified health centers in the United States.
Methods: Data were collected from 566 pediatric subjects who underwent dental rehabilitation under GA between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014. One-way analysis of variance and linear regression analyses were performed.
Results: Patients waited 110.6 days (±standard deviation 103.9 days) between the initial and treatment visits. Regression analysis demonstrated that prolonged wait time was a significant predictor for an increased number of preoperative visits and more teeth treated than planned. Among the 25.1 percent of patients who returned for follow-up after surgery, 18.6 percent presented with pain, swelling, or broken/ displaced restorations. The Canadian diagnostic code system was associated with the American Society of Anesthesiologists classification system (P <0.001) and was not coincident with wait time.
Conclusion: Longer wait time was associated with continuous pain, more teeth treated than planned, and more frequent pre- and post-operative visits. Wait time was predictive of a higher number of preoperative visits. Initial visit pain, and extra- and intra-oral swelling were associated with the Canadian diagnostic system.