Abstract

We assessed the safety of general anesthesia for dental treatment of special needs patients as it related to American Society of Anesthesiology Physical Status (ASAPS) classification, procedure, and other factors. After Institutional Review Board review and approval, special needs patients who were admitted to the outpatient surgical operating room for comprehensive dental rehabilitation (CDR) under general anesthesia within a period of 5 years had their medical records evaluated retrospectively for intraoperative and postoperative complications both related to anesthesia and surgery. All records were evaluated by an independent evaluator who tabulated the patients' age, gender, ASAPS, and duration of procedure. N  =  363, age mean  =  46.93 ± 16.835 years, age median  =  48 years, male patients  =  180, female patients  =  183, ASAPS I  =  183, ASAPS II  =  127, ASAPS III  =  53, duration of surgery mean  =  140.631 ± 23.104 minutes, duration of surgery median time  =  142.000 minutes, and number of complications  =  2. One complication resulted in an ASAPS I 16-year-old boy, which was airway related, and a second was an ASAPS III 22-year-old woman, which was surgically related. Both led to unplanned inpatient admissions and were treated successfully with no residual morbidity. Dental rehabilitation of special needs patients under general anesthesia is safe. While morbidity is very low, larger studies are needed to establish risk versus benefit stratification among this patient population.