Assessment of Parent's Preference to General or Local Anesthesia for Children undergoing Dental Treatment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Investigators have begun to address the relationship of parental satisfaction with dental care for children since the dentist/physician and the patient are all aware of the services being provided. These determining characters are essential for compliance of the patient, as patient satisfaction is directly related to health-related issues, needs, and practice. Patient satisfaction has an important role in determining the utilization of the healthcare services and the compliance behavior of the patients. Factors which can influence the patients’ decision to seek care and follow through to the completion of the treatment process can affect the physiologic and functional outcomes of the treatment. Hence, this survey was done to evaluate parent's preference to general or local anesthesia in their children's dental treatments. Materials and methods In this survey, a modified and adapted questionnaire from a previously tested survey that was used to assess parental satisfaction with dental treatments under general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry, was used to assess parents’ preference to general or local anesthesia. Parents whose children were going to undergo treatments in Department of Pedodontics, Saveetha Dental College, was issued with this questionnaire and clinical examination of teeth present and treatment to be done was examined. Results Ninety-seven percent of the parents preferred local anesthesia to general anesthesia. Parents preferred general anesthesia most only in case child below the age of 3 and when multiple settings are required of and their knowledge about anesthesia and its side effects was found to low and preferred local anesthesia in most cases. Conclusion Parents play a unique role in dental care and over all well being of the child. Some parents and dental practitioners prefer the presence of a parent with their child during the delivery of in-office dental care. Parents are aware of their child's previous dental experiences and are also aware of the child's interest and fear. Most of the parent's preference was to local anesthesia (97%) and preferred general anesthesia under given circumstances. How to cite this article Vellingiri S, Gurunathan D. Assessment of Parent's Preference to General or Local Anesthesia for Children undergoing Dental Treatment. World J Dent 2015;6(3):154-160.