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Dental treatment under general anaesthesia: the short-term change in young children’s oral-health-related quality of life

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Abstract

Aim: This was to assess the short-term change in children’s oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and family impact after dental treatment under general anaesthesia (GA) in the Netherlands. Study design: A pretest-posttest design was used. Methods: Children (<8 years) referred to a clinic for specialized paediatric dentistry and who needed treatment under GA were selected to participate and divided across two groups. Fifty out of 80 parents/children couples participated, one group of parents filled out the questionnaires on behalf of their child before and after treatment (N=31), and the other group only after treatment (N=19). The questionnaires used were the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) and Parental Perceptions Questionnaire and Family Impact Scale (PPQ and FIS, forming the OHRQoL score). The oral health was assessed using the decayed-missing-filled surfaces or teeth index (dmfs/dmft) for the primary dentition from the status praesens after treatment. Results: There was a significant difference between the pre- and posttest-scores in group A for both the short version and the long version (short: t=5.088, df=20, p<0.001 and long: t=6.279, df=20, p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in CFSS-DS scores before and after treatment (group A) (t=1.815, df=13, p=0.093). Conclusions: The children’s OHRQoL improved after treatment under GA according to their parents. As expected, dental fear did not change and should be dealt with after treatment to avoid a child’s dental fear to persist in the future. A shorter version of the PPQ and FIS seems useful to assess OHRQoL in very young children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Cariology Endodontology Pedodontology (postvak 5), Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) University of Amsterdam and Free University, Louwesweg 1, 1066 EA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    M. A. Klaassen & J. S. J. Veerkamp

  2. Dept. Social Dentistry and Behavioural Sciences, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    M. A. Klaassen & J. Hoogstraten

  3. Dept. Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    J. Hoogstraten

Authors
  1. M. A. Klaassen
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  2. J. S. J. Veerkamp
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  3. J. Hoogstraten
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Correspondence to M. A. Klaassen.

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Klaassen, M.A., Veerkamp, J.S.J. & Hoogstraten, J. Dental treatment under general anaesthesia: the short-term change in young children’s oral-health-related quality of life. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 9, 130–137 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03262624

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