Children with baby bottle tooth decay treated under general anesthesia or sedation: behavior in a follow-up visit

The purpose of the present study was to compare the behaviors of a group of children, who were treated for baby bottle tooth decay (BBTD) under general anesthesia (GA) or under sedation in a dental school environment in a routine follow-up examination, and to assess the dental anxiety levels of the parents. Sixty-five children, who were treated for BBTD in the Pediatric Dentistry clinic of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine between 1995-1997 under GA (34 children) or sedation (31 children). The parents of these children agreed to attend our clinic for recall examination 13 months post treatment following a telephone conversation. Frankl's behavioral scale and the sitting pattern were recorded for each child. In the sedation group, Frankl's scores of the present visits were then compared to the scores recorded at the initial examination visit that were obtained from the dental records. The accompanying parents were asked to note the number of visits to the dentist in the past two years, and to complete Corah's dental anxiety scale (DAS). No difference was observed between the children in both groups. Most of the children in the GA and in the sedation groups sat alone on the dental chair, without the assistance of the parents. Parents of the sedation group showed higher scores than the GA group in the total DAS (9.35 and 8.90 respectively), however these differences were not statistically significant. It is concluded that children treated for BBTD under GA or under sedation at a very young age behave similarly in a follow-up examination nearly 13 months postoperatively.