Evaluation of therapeutic effect and health economics of general anesthesia and routine outpatient dental treatment in children with severe early child caries.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the efficacy and health economics of the comprehensive therapy for the children with severe early child caries (S-ECC) under dental general anesthesia (DGA) and conventional outpatient treatment to provide references for dentists and parents in the choice of clinical treatment.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on S-ECC children aged 36-71 months and who received dental treatment under general anesthesia or routine outpatient situation. The filled tooth survival rate, treatment cost, and cost-filled tooth survival time of the two groups were compared, and the curative effect and health economics was evaluated.

RESULTS

The filled tooth survival rate of the DGA group was higher than that of the routine outpatient group (<0.05). The average direct medical cost per filled tooth was significantly higher in the DGA group than in the routine outpatient group (<0.05). The direct medical cost-filled tooth survival time ratio in the DGA group was higher than that in the routine outpatient group (<0.05), but no significant difference was observed in the total medical cost-filled tooth survival time ratio (>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Compared with the conventional outpatient treatment group, the treatment outcomes of S-ECC under general anesthesia were better, and the costs were higher. However, no significant difference was observed in the total medical cost-filled tooth survival time between these two groups, and the conventional outpatient treatment did not have evident economic advantages.