Dental treatment under general anaesthesia at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Dental General Anaesthesia (DGA) has been shown to be of value in providing both restorative treatment and extractions in children who are unable to accept this using other methods of management.

The aims of this retrospective study were to determine the characteristics of patients attending for treatment under DGA at a centre in Saudi Arabia, to describe the type of dental treatment carried out using DGA and in the subsequent 3-year period.

Data were collected from hospital records of 555 patients who received treatment under DGA at King Fahad Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between 1995 and 1997.

Ninety three percent of the patients were aged 8 or younger at the time of DGA, with 43% being under 5 years of age. The main indications for use of DGA in the youngest age group were dental management of rampant caries (77% of the youngest age group) and inability to accept treatment under local anaesthesia (49% of those aged 5-8 years). Seventy percent of patients had treatment involving both extractions and restorative care, and the majority, 81%, had one tooth or more restored with preformed metal crowns. Sixty-three percent of patients attended for recall after 6 months but only 10% did so after a 3-year interval. Only one of the 555 patients received a second DGA at the same centre during the 3 years following treatment.

The service studied provides dental treatment primarily for children with extensive disease. Failure to attend for recall was common, suggesting that preventive methods which rely on regular attendance may not be successful in this group of children.