Deep Sedation for Dental Care Management in Healthy and Special Health Care Needs Children: A Retrospective Study

Very young children, and those with disabilities and extensive oral pathology, who cannot be treated in the dental chair, require deep sedation or general anesthesia for dental treatment.

The aim of this study is to describe and compare the oral health status in healthy and SHCN children and the treatments performed under deep sedation on an outpatient basis with a minimal intervention approach, and their impact on quality of life.

A retrospective study between 2006 and 2018 was made. A total of 230 medical records of healthy and SHCN children were included. The data extracted were age, sex, systemic health status, reason for sedation, oral health status before sedation, treatments administered during sedation, and follow-up. The quality of life after deep sedation of 85 children was studied through parental questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential analyses were made.

Of the 230 children, 47.4% were healthy and 52.6% were SHCN. The median age was 7.10 ± 3.40 years (5.04 ± 2.42 in healthy children and 8.95 ± 3.09 in SHCN children). The main reason for sedation was poor handling in the dental chair (99.5%). The most frequent pathologies were caries (90.9%) and pulp pathology (67.8%). Healthy children had more teeth affected by decay and with pulp involvement. Patients aged < 6 years received more pulpectomies and pulpotomies. After treatment, parents stated that children were more rested and less irascible, ate better, increased in weight, and had improved dental aesthetics.

Differences in treatments carried out did not depend on the general health status or the failure rate but on age, with more pulp treatments in healthy children who were younger, and more extractions near to the age of physiological turnover in children with SHCN who were older. Intervention under deep sedation with a minimally invasive treatments approach met the expectations of parents and guardians, as it improved the children's quality of life.