Ethics in Children's Dental Treatment under General Anesthesia at the Lebanese University

In pediatric dentistry, general anesthesia is required for dental treatment. The treatment modalities are often linked to the patient's medical conditions. However, ethical values might influence the decisions of the treatment.

To compare the treatment modalities under general anesthesia between healthy children and children with special needs (CSN) and to assess the ethical principles.

An analytical retrospective study, approximately 64 patients including 26 CSN and 38 healthy children from 3 to 12 years of age, who underwent general anesthesia (GA) for dental treatment, was performed. The treatment modalities for each tooth were noted, such as fissure sealant, composite, pulp treatment, stainless steel crowns restorations, and extraction. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the implementation of the four principles of ethics. Statistical analyses were performed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20, (Los Angeles, California), with 95% confidence interval of the difference. The significance level was set at P < 0.05 valued.

A total of 40.6% of the sample were CSN and 59.4% were healthy with extremely high dental fear and anxiety. Thirty-five children were <6 years old. Only 11.4% of them were CSN; 29 children were ≥6 years old and 75.9% were CSN. For 56 of 64 of the patients, the treatment plan has not been respected irrespective of the medical condition. A total of three of the eight treatment plans that have been respected were for the CSN and five for the healthy children.

Under general anesthesia, the medical condition of the patient did not alter the dental treatment type. The four principles of ethics were respected as well in CSN as in healthy ones.