Clinical outcomes of dental treatment under general anesthesia and its effects on the caries activity and body growth of children: a 2-year retrospective study

To analyze clinical outcomes of dental treatment under general anesthesia (DGA) and its effects on children's caries activity status and body growth within 2 years after the treatment.The case data and 2-year follow-up records of children who underwent DGA from February 2017 to February 2018 were collected and analyzed. The general characteristics of the sample, the success rates of treatment procedures, the caries recurrence rate, the caries activity test scores, and the BMI of all the children were described. The caries activity levels between children with and without caries recurrence at 24 months after DGA were compared before and after DGA to explore the relationship between caries activity level and caries recurrence. The correlation between BMI level and caries recurrence was explored using Cox regression analysis.A total of 94 children consisting of 46 boys and 48 girls were included in this study. The average dmft score before DGA was 13.90. Within 2 years after the treatment, composite fillings and strip crowns of the anterior teeth achieved similar success rates, around 90%; SSCs showed a similar success rate to composite fillings of posterior teeth (P = 1.000); the clinical success rate of pulpectomy was 90.43%. All the children showed no caries relapse at 1 month after DGA. The number of children with caries relapse at 6-, 12-, and 24-month post-treatment was 24 (25.53%), 35 (37.23%), and 53 (56.38%), respectively. The caries activity scores at each follow-up were significantly lower than those before the treatment (P < 0.0001). Children with caries relapse within 2 years after DGA showed no significantly different caries activity scores than children without caries relapse before and after the treatment. The proportion of children with normal BMI at 12 months after DGA was significantly higher than that before DGA (P = 0.007), and the difference was still very significant at 24 months after DGA (P < 0.0001). Statistical results showed a correlation between BMI level before DGA and caries recurrence (P < 0.001).Dental treatment under general anesthesia achieves acceptable clinical outcomes in this study. Children's caries activity scores decrease significantly. Low or high BMI levels before DGA drift towards normal after the treatment.Acceptable outcomes are achieved within 2 years after dental treatment under general anesthesia. However, children with abnormal BMI before the treatment tend to have caries relapse.