Parents' satisfaction with paediatric dental treatment under sedation: A cross-sectional study

Patient-reported outcomes are under-investigated in the field of paediatric dental sedation.

To evaluate the satisfaction of parents/guardians with their children's dental sedation, compare it to the dentist's satisfaction, and identify associated factors.

This study was performed with parents/guardians of young children treated under sedation and dentists. Participants' satisfaction was measured using the visual analogue scale (0-100). Child's behaviour was classified using the Ohio State Behavioural Rating Scale. Other information was collected during interviews and from patient charts. The Spearman's, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed (P < .05).

A total of 167 parents/guardians and ten dentists participated in the study. Protective stabilisation and atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) were used in 69.9% and 51.5% appointments, respectively. The parents/guardians (median: 91 [25-75 percentile: 75-96]) and dentists (76 [23-98]) were satisfied. Parental/guardian satisfaction was higher than dentist satisfaction (P ≤ .001). Parental/guardian satisfaction was positively correlated with quiet child behaviour (r = 0.347, P ≤ .001) and was associated with the non-use of protective stabilisation (P ≤ .001), no previous toothache (P = .019), and the use of ART (P = .018).

The participants were satisfied with treatment under sedation. Parents/guardians were more satisfied, especially, when the child had cooperative behaviour.