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141 - Impact of General Anesthesia Wait Times on Quality of Life

Friday, May 22, 2026
2:40 PM - 2:55 PM PST
Has Audio
Abstract:


Purpose: To identify the impact of prolonged delays for dental treatment under general anesthesia (GA) and to determine the association between Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) scores and prolonged wait time for GA.



Methods: Caregivers of children ages 0-6 years old, who read English or Spanish, were recruited on the day of GA to complete the ECOHIS and an 8-question survey investigating presence and duration of pain; pain medications and antibiotics taken; duration of seeking dental care; emergency/urgent treatment for dental problems; and hospitalization, all while waiting for surgery. Study staff then extracted demographic and clinical data from the electronic health record.



Results: 380 surveys were collected; of which 344 were English and 36 were Spanish. 57% reported pain for more than 3 months, 48.1% sought emergency/urgent dental treatment, 15% had antibiotic prescriptions, and 4% had hospital admission.



Conclusions: Higher ECOHIS family scores were associated with increased odds of antibiotic prescriptions and hospital admissions, and higher ECOHIS scores were associated with increased emergency visits. However, no significant association was found between wait times and ECOHIS scores.

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