Assessing the time elapse following Propofol induced general anesthesia in children's dentistry

Un-cooperative children with massive dental need are usually suitable candidates for outpatient dental procedures under general anesthesia. Discharge from recovery without complications is an ideal goal achieved by the use of short acting anesthetic agents. This study was designed to evaluate the duration of recovery as well as potential complications in propofol infusion anesthesia. In this descriptive cross sectional study, forty five healthy patients, aged 5-10 years were selected from the pool referred to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Isfahan Dental School for treatment. Initial evaluation and allocation for treatment under General Anesthesia was performed based on proof of lack of cooperation. induction of anesthesia with thiopental was carried out along with maintenance of anesthesia with infusion of propofol under mechanical ventilation. The duration of recoverywas recorded as well as any complications being made over the course of recovery. Data were then analyzed using basic statistics. Duration of recovery was 43.5 ± 22.12. In total 51.1 % of the patients reported no complications, however the remaining 48.9 % of the patients there was at least one complaint at the recovery time. The most important complaint was irritability with an incidence of 44.4 %. Maintenance of anesthesia with propofol infusion can reduce duration of recovery and therefore speed up the discharge time for patients (children) who received their dental treatments under GA.