title: Variables Affecting General Anesthesia Time for Pediatric Dental Cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to identify variables affecting procedural times for dental treatments performed in the operating room (OR) under general anesthesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2,264 OR cases at Boston Children's Hospital were included in the study. A series of patient, provider, and operational variables were studied, including: patient age, gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, need for intraoperative radiographs, intubation type, provider type, referring provider type, referral date, waiting time between referral and OR, and symmetry of caries pattern. Analysis of variance, z test, t test, Pearson correlations, and regression modeling were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Provider inexperience, need for obtaining radiographs, older age, higher ASA class, and oral intubation significantly increased surgical case times. Using the current OR case estimation resulted in an overestimation of 14.6 hours per month. Application of our regression model improved the accuracy of case time estimation by 7.9 hours per month.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overestimation of pediatric dental operating room cases exists, and identification of variables associated with these inaccuracies can aid providers in recapturing underutilized operating room times.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, N.J., USA. youngyi.dmd@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Young
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Google, Inc., Mountain View, Calif., USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y., USA.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterial Science, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass., USA.
authors.forename: Sheetal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asher
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass., USA.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass., USA.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rivas-Morello
authors.affiliation: Lutheran Medical Center, Phoenix, Ariz., USA.
authors.forename: Mehedia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Boston Children's Hospital, USA; Developmental Biology (Pediatric Dentistry), Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass., USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D000768:Anesthesia, General; D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries; D006801:Humans; D009873:Operating Rooms; D061646:Operative Time; D012017:Referral and Consultation