Objectives: This study was performed on children and their families. The main aim was to discover the effect of dental treatment under general anaesthesia (GA) on quality of life in both children and their guardians.
Patients and Methods: The sample included a consecutive number of children receiving full mouth rehabilitation under GA. An interview was performed to the guardian's pre and post-operative. The interview consisted of a series of questions that examined the effect of dental caries on both the child and their guardians. Two scales were used in the process; the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) to measure the impact of dental caries on children quality of life, and visual analogue scale (VAS) to measure guardian's satisfaction following GA.
Results: This study included 100 children and their guardians. The mean age for the whole sample was 4.5 years. The ratio of males to female children was 56:44. Regarding the results from ECOHIS, there was a statistically significant post-operative decrease in: complains from teeth, sensitivity with hot and cold, sensitivity from sweets, difficulty in pronouncing some words, time off from school or day-care due to pain, sleeping problems and behaviour problems. As for guardians, there was a statistically significant postoperative decrease in the feeling of being guilty towards their children welfare, the extra-care required for the child, the income loss and the worry about the child's future. Most of the parents (87%) regarded the GA experience as being positive, and 85% of caregivers would recommend GA as a treatment option for full mouth rehabilitation in children.
Conclusions: The choice of GA as a treatment option for children with early childhood caries results in significant improvement in quality of life for both the children and their guardians.