283 - Adverse Events of Children Waiting for Dental Treatment under GETA

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PAULO MALAVE, CHERYL
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Purpose: This study aims to determine the adverse events occurrence during the waiting time of pediatric patients needing dental treatment under general anesthesia.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. 215 records were selected from patients aged 0 to 18 years old who received dental treatment under general anesthesia at the University Pediatric Hospital (HOPU) from January 2021 to March 2024. Parents were called to answer a questionnaire about adverse events during the waiting time before completing dental treatment under general anesthesia. The questionnaire consists of 15 questions related to adverse events such as dental pain, use of antibiotics, and visits to the ER, among others. Non-parametric methods of Mann-Whitney U-test or Welch’s t-test (when variances of two groups are not equal) will be used.

Results: The average waiting time for the patients who answered the questionnaire was 222 days compared to 194 days for those who didn’t respond. There was no significant difference between answering and the waiting time (p=.8035). Among the participants, 55% reported having dental pain during the waiting period, 49% missed school days due to dental problems, 31% took antibiotics for odontogenic-related infections, 19% had to visit the emergency room due to dental pain, and only 37% received some dental treatment while waiting.

Conclusion: This study brings an opportunity to analyze the actual classification system and create a new one that prioritizes and reduces the possibility of adverse events.