Effects of Dental Treatment under General Anesthesia on Children’s Health

A pre- and post-test design will be used in which a questionnaire will be distributed to the child’s parent/caregiver to be completed before dental treatment under GA and another similar questionnaire will be distributed one month after GA. Each questionnaire comprises two global items, 33 P-CPQ items and 14 FIS items. These are scored using 5-point Likert-type response options. A P-CPQ consists of 33 items, measuring oral symptoms (six items), functional limitations (eight items), emotional well-being (nine items), and social well-being (ten items). A FIS scale consists of 14 items, measuring parental/family activity (five items), parental emotions (four items), and family conflict (four items). The scores for both P-CPQ and FIS will be computed and compared as a total and for each subscale. The intervention includes providing the children affected by dental caries with complete oral rehabilitation, including dental fillings, pulp therapy, and/or extraction. The dental treatment will be provided in the operating room while the child patient under standard general anesthesia. The dental treatment may require up to 3 hours and will be completed in a single session. The treatment will not be repeated.