title: Ten years on: Is dental general anaesthesia in childhood a risk factor for caries and anxiety?
abstract: Objectives To identify whether dental general anaesthesia (DGA) status is informative in assessing risk of caries or dental anxiety by (a) describing long-term oral health and dental anxiety for people who underwent DGA in childhood and (b) testing whether DGA status in childhood is associated with incident future dental caries or anxiety independently of preconceived risk factors.Design Analysis of prospectively obtained data.Setting An established population based cohort in the UK, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.Participants and methods In total 1,695 participants with dental data in childhood and adolescence were included in analysis. DGA status by age 7 and oral health measures at age 17 were identified from questionnaire data.Main outcome measures Filled or extracted permanent teeth at age 17, Corah Dental Anxiety Scale.Results One hundred and twenty-eight (7.6%) participants underwent DGA in childhood. Individuals who underwent DGA had higher measures of filled or extracted permanent teeth in adolescence (0.36 more affected teeth in fully-adjusted model [95% confidence interval: 0.27, 0.55; P <0.001]).Conclusions DGA in childhood predicts burden of treated caries in adolescence, independently of other risk factors. DGA status may be a clinically useful adjunct in identifying young people at high risk of further disease.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol.|School of Oral and Dental Sciences, University of Bristol Dental Hospital, Bristol.|School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haworth
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol.|School of Oral and Dental Sciences, University of Bristol Dental Hospital, Bristol.|School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dudding
authors.affiliation: School of Oral and Dental Sciences, University of Bristol Dental Hospital, Bristol.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waylen
authors.affiliation: School of Oral and Dental Sciences, University of Bristol Dental Hospital, Bristol.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol.|School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol.
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Timpson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000766:Anesthesia, Dental; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D002648:Child; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D013997:Time Factors