Reasons for referral of children to a general anaesthetic service in Northern Ireland.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate, in a case-specific manner, dental practitioners' clinical and social reasons for referral of children for dental extractions under general anaesthesia and to relate these to separately obtained information.
DESIGN: For each child referred to the community general anaesthetic dental extraction service, closed-ended questionnaires were completed by the referring practitioner, by the parent accompanying the child and by the assessing community dental officer.
SETTING: The study was undertaken in the Craigavon and Banbridge area of Northern Ireland.
RESULTS: A total of 177 completed the study, representing an inclusion rate of 93%. The children ranged in age from 3 to 17 years (mean 6.8 years) and previous experience of general anaesthesia for dental extractions was seen in 55 (31%). The most common reasons for referral were the requirement for multiple extractions (63%), the patients' anxiety or fear of dental treatment (60%) and the young age of the patient (60%), and the specification of these reasons was found to be significantly related to separately obtained indicators. A poor record of co-operation for treatment in the past was indicated in almost a third of cases and this indication was significantly related to low levels of co-operation for restorations.
CONCLUSION: It appears practitioners have considered a range of factors in their decisions to refer children and there is information which supports these reasons in most instances.