Treatment outcomes of using inhalation sedation for comprehensive dental care within the hospital dental service by utilising the Indicator of Sedation Need (IOSN) assessment tool

• Main Author: Madouh, Maryam
• Other Authors: Toumba, Jack ; Tahmassebi, Jinous
• Published: University of Leeds 2013
• Subjects: 617.6
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.595213

Background: Dental fear and anxiety are common encounters in paediatric dentistry. Therefore, it is important to understand the causes and types of dental anxiety in order to implement the appropriate behaviour management strategies so that high quality dental care could be delivered and disruptive behaviour is minimised. Some dentally anxious individuals have reported that the provision of a form for sedation would facilitate their dental treatment. Therefore assessing the need for sedation would be beneficial. Aim: To assess the treatment outcomes of using inhalation sedation for comprehensive dental care within the hospital dental service by utilising a modified version of the Indicator of Sedation Need (IOSN) assessment tool. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out in two phases: Retrospective Phase – A study of the treatment outcomes when using inhalation sedation for comprehensive dental care within the hospital dental service. Prospective Phase - A study investigating the outcomes of dental treatment of patients referred to the sedation unit at the LDI when the paediatric version of the indicator of sedation need (p-IOSN) was utilised. Results: Retrospective Phase: the records of 453 patients (213 males and 240 females) were evaluated. Mean age was 10.30 (SD = 2.95) years. Treatment was completed successfully in 63.6% of the cases. Results revealed that age below 10 years was significantly associated with the outcome that “treatment abandoned in sedation unit and child referred to receive treatment under general anaesthesia (GA)”. No significant association was found between gender and treatment outcome. Prospective Phase: Forty patients (16 males and 24 females) of mean age 9.99 (SD = 3.14) years were followed up to ascertain treatment outcomes when the p-IOSN was used. Of the total of 40 children included in the prospective study, 20 (50%) scored 6 on p-IOSN. Treatment completion rate was 72.5%. Although major differences existed between age and treatment outcomes, they failed to achieve statistical significance. No significant association was found between gender and p-IOSN of any score with any treatment outcome. Conclusions: p-IOSN is a useful tool that can be utilised to predict child patients who would benefit from sedation for their dental treatment. However, the p-IOSN is still in the investigational stages and further research is required prior to its use on the clinical grounds.