Provision of dental general anaesthesia for extractions in child patients at two centres

To two contrasting centres, to describe the provision of dental general anaesthesia (DGA) for simple non-surgical extractions in terms of the type of treatment provided, including the number of primary and permanent teeth extracted, and the characteristics of child patients attending in terms of their age group and gender.

Retrospective analysis of hospital records.

Data were drawn from records of services over a 12-month period in 1996/97 at: a) a London dental hospital (Centre 1), and b) in the community dental services in Rochdale, Lancashire (Centre 2). Information was collated and analysed using the SPSS statistical software package.

The majority of patients at both centres were aged less than 9 years. Almost one third (31%) of those seen at Centre 1 were below 5 years of age, but fewer of this age group were treated at Centre 2. Children aged 9 years or less had an average of 5.4 (SD = 3.0) primary teeth extracted at Centre 1 and 3.0 (SD = 2.0) at Centre 2. For permanent teeth, an average of 3.2 (SD = 1.2) and 2.7 (SD = 1.4) were extracted at Centres 1 and 2 respectively.

Both services were used primarily for the extraction of primary teeth although the services differed in the ages of patients who used them and in the numbers of teeth extracted. Numbers of patients attending the service at Centre 1 had declined over time but numbers of teeth extracted per child had increased.