A survey of parents whose children had full-mouth rehabilitation under general anesthesia regarding subsequent preventive dental care.

General anesthesia (GA) is a treatment modality for very young children who require extensive dental treatment, are fearful, and are medically compromised. It is relatively safe when administered in a hospital setting, but is not without risk of complications. 1, 2 Successful outcome of full-mouth rehabilitation for the pediatric dental patient under GA depends on the expertise of the medical and dental team and the ability of parents or caretakers to comply with preventive dental care for their children following GA. Legault et al. 3 reported in a follow-up analysis of 217 children treated under GA that 84 (38.6%) required further dental treatment within 15.6 months of initial treatment. Nine (10.7%) needed retreatment under because of severe management problems or failure to carry out preventive or maintenance measures. O’Sullivan et al. 4 reported similar findings. In his study, 80 children received comprehensive dental care under GA and were followed for a minimum of 2 years after the procedure. Seven of 80 (8.75%) patients required retreatment, and only two patients needed more restorative treatment under GA (2.5%). Roberts5 stated that providing dental care for children under GA is an important service. However, only 36 children (26%) received preventive therapy after GA, although 141 (100%) children received some preventive advice from the consultant dental practitioner at the time of assessment. Once the treatment was completed, parents did not see the need for homecare prevention and failed to keep appointments specifically set for preventive therapy. Other reports in the literature confirm that children with high initial rates of dental decay tend to have greater increases in incremental decay in subsequent years. Johnsen et al. 6 compared, on recall, children who had nursing caries to a group who were initially caries free for occurrence of lesions in approximal molar surfaces. At follow-up examination 36-45 months later, 53% of nursing caries children had one or more approximal molar lesions compared with 15% of children who were initially caries free. Silver et al. 7 stated poor feeding practice in infancy should be considered as an indication of high risk to caries for both the primary and permanent teeth. Sclavos et al. 8 compared the nursing bottle group and the control group as to future caries development and found that despite increased preventive care, the nursing bottle group had a higher susceptibility to dental caries. A review of the literature reveals no report on preventive dental care of parents/caretakers for their children following full-mouth rehabilitation under GA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate by telephone interview the self-reported compliance of families with preventive dental care, including follow-up visits, for their children who had full-mouth rehabilitation under GA.