Factors that affect the duration of dental treatment in children during general anaesthesia

Güler Burcu Senirkentli1image, Zeynep Ersoy2image, Eda Çakmak3image, R. Ebru Tirali4image

Highlights

Accurate prediction of treatment duration under general anaesthesia is important to improve operating room efficiency and patient safety in children.

Less experienced dentists required longer operative times, while the tooth-specific calculation tool closely predicted actual treatment duration.

Improved treatment planning may enhance clinical efficiency and support safer paediatric dental care under general anaesthesia.

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the dentist’s experience, types of procedures performed, and secondary factors that may affect dental treatment in paediatric patients under general anaesthesia (GA). Methods: A retrospective cohort study of paediatric patients who underwent dental treatment under general anaesthesia at Baskent University Hospital between 2016 and 2020 was carried out. Patient demographic data were collected, the planned and applied treatment procedures were noted, and the operating times were recorded. Using a newly developed calculation tool, estimated procedure times were calculated for the planned treatments. Years of work as a specialist were recorded to analyse the impact of operator experience. Results: The mean age of the patients was 5.29 years (±1.94 SD), and 58.8% were male. Statistically significant differences were observed in procedure times when comparing patients with and without systemic diseases. Additionally, dentists with 5 years of experience or less required significantly longer procedure times under general anaesthesia compared to those with 6 to 10 years of experience (p=0.003) and those with more than 10 years of experience (p<0.001). However, no significant difference was found between the groups with 6 to 10 years of experience and those with over 10 years of experience (p=0.144). In the obese patient group, dentists with 5 years of experience or less had significantly longer procedure durations than more experienced dentists (p=0.047). Conclusions: Dentists’ experience positively affected the duration of the procedure and the preferred type of procedure performed under GA. A new tool was developed to estimate treatment durations under GA.

Keywords: Body Mass Index; Dental Health; General Anaesthesia; Paediatric Dentistry

Author Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry Baskent University, Türkiye (Correspondence:gburcubostanci@yahoo.com)
  2. Department of Anesthesiology & Reanimation, Faculty of Medicine Baskent University, Türkiye
  3. Department of Audiology Faculty of Health Sciences, Baskent University, Türkiye
  4. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry Baskent University, Türkiye
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Article Info

Contemp Pediatr Dent 2026:7(1):89-100

Received: 05 January 2026

Accepted: 31 March 2026

Online First: 21 April 2026

DOI: 10.51463/cpd.2025.81

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					Güler Burcu Senirkentli, Zeynep Ersoy, Eda Çakmak, R. Ebru Tirali. Factors that affect the duration of dental treatment in children during general anaesthesia. Contemp Pediatr Dent 2026:7(1):89-100

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