Waiting times before dental care under general anesthesia in children with special needs in the Children\'s Hospital of Casablanca

Abstract

IntroductionOral diseases may have an impact on quality of children's life. The presence of severe disability requires the use of care under general anesthesia (GA). However, because of the limited number of qualified health personnel, waiting time before intervention can be long. Aim: To evaluate the waiting time before dental care under general anesthesia for children with special needs in Morocco.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was carried out in pediatric dentistry unit of the University Hospital of Casablanca. Data were collected from records of patients seen for the first time between 2006 and 2011. The waiting time was defined as the time between the date of the first consultation and intervention date.Results127 children received dental care under general anesthesia, 57.5% were male and the average age was 9.2 (SD = 3.4). Decay was the most frequent reason for consultation (48%), followed by pain (32%). The average waiting time was 7.6 months (SD = 4.2 months). The average number of acts performed per patient was 13.5.ConclusionWaiting times were long, it is necessary to take measures to reduce delays and improve access to oral health care for this special population.

Application of general anesthesia as part of dental care for children with special needs

“…The average waiting time in Morocco was 7.8 months [3], while in our clinic is about one year. Only two days in every week, anesthesiologist comes at our department, usually performing two children under general anesthetics per day.…”

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“…This is mainly related to hospital factors, such as the low staff number of the anesthesiology department, the small number of available surgical rooms for dental treatment, the limitation of the number of patients allowed for dental treatment per day to only two and the postponement of surgeries due to emergency health problems of the patients. , Chaollai et al 2010, Badre et al 2014, although substantially smaller waiting times have been reported (1.3-3.3 months) in countries such as France (Badre et al 2014). In similar studies it seems that during waiting time, 41% of parents reported that their child needed analgetic drugs, 28.5% had sleep disorders, 32.9% had mastication and eating problems and 49.4% needed some kind of antibiotics (Chung et al 2010).…”

A Preliminary Study of the Treatment Outcomes of Paediatric Dental Patients Referred for General Anaesthesia or Sedation at a Regional Hospital in Trinidad

“…The significant delay in receiving treatment can be due to a variety of patient-related and institution-related factors [14,22,23]. Limited access to affordable GA/sedation services for children was reported to be the main barrier for many parents.…”

“…Based on the data reviewed in this study, it is the authors' recommendation that in order to improve the services at the regional hospital and limit the effects of long wait times for treatment under GA/sedation at the institution, the following should be encouraged [18,22,23]:…”