Background: General anesthesia for dental treatment in disabled patients may present particular problems, especially when it is done in a general hospital, compared with specialized dental hospitals.
Methods: We surveyed 24 patients who underwent dental treatment under general anesthesia in our institution during the last decade.
Results: Electrocardiography or chest x-ray photography was not obtained in 8 patients owing to lack of patients' cooperation. Slow induction with sevoflurane was selected in 5 patients, because intravenous cannulae could not be placed owing to their rejection. Nasotracheal intubation was performed in all patients, but no difficulty in intubation was documented. As postoperative complications, we observed convulsion in one patient and muscle rigidity in another, but no critical troubles related to circulatory or respiratory status. In patients who were treated for more than ten teeth, we observed differences in age, body weight, duration of anesthesia, maximum concentration of sevoflurane administered during anesthesia, and use of postoperative analgesics compared with the other patients.
Conclusions: We found particular problems of anesthesia for disable patients undergoing dental treatment in a general hospital, and suggest that information on numbers of teeth to be treated is helpful.