The treatment success rate was 83.4% with sedation and 98.9% with general anaesthesia, (p<0.0001).
Of the 44 sedation patients who did not complete the intervention, 23 were referred for general anaesthesia, 1 had treatment completed with local anaesthesia alone, and 20 failed to return for a subsequent visit having completed their treatment successfully at the previous visit.
The statistical analysis revealed that regularity of dental attendance, age and the number of teeth needing extraction were correlated with the success of sedation. Children who regularly attended dentist visits, who were older, and who had fewer teeth requiring extraction were more likely to be associated with successful treatment.
A total of 93.6% of the parents in the sedation group and 77.7% in the comparison group completed the questionnaire. The results obtained were as follows:
70.7% of sedation parents and 32.8% of comparison parents considered their child to be happy, with the majority (50.3%) of comparison patients saying that their child was unsure;
61.3% of sedation parents and 30.7% of comparison patients reported that their child was not distressed.
A total of 66.4% of the parents in the sedation group and 57.3% of the parents in the comparison group completed the VAS. The score for the reaction of the child was 76.25 (+/- 19.51) in the sedation group and 62.86 (+/- 36.20) in the comparison group. The score for the parents' reaction was 82.18 (+/- 16.87) in the sedation group and 66.30 (+/- 24.38) in the comparison group.
Almost 86% of sedation parents would opt for the same procedure in the future. This percentage fell to 23.6% in the comparison group. All differences were statistically significant.