Pain-related complaints of paediatric patients after dental treatment under general anaesthesia

Aim To identify factors related to postoperative pain and to recognise strategies to reduce this pain after dental treatment under general anaesthesia. Methods Cross-sectional observational study. Children treated under general ansesthesia reported pain daily using the Wong Baker FACES (R) Pain Rating Scale. Their parents/caregivers filled in a related Yes/No questionnaire during hospitalisation and the first postoperative week. The duration and severity of pain were evaluated in relation to various factors. Results Postoperative intravenous opioid administration was more effective (all: p = 0.02; extraction: p = 0.04) than NSAIDs (all: p = 0.74; extraction: p = 0.78) in pain management. Compared to younger patients, older patients reported increased pain during the postoperative week (duration: p = 0.04; severity: p = 0.04). Treatment time (pain duration all: p < 0.01; extraction: p < 0.01, pain severity all: p = 0.01; extraction: p < 0.01), airway management (pain duration all: p = 0.02; extraction: p = 0.02) severity (all: p = 0.02; extraction: p = 0.02), and class of extracted primary teeth (anterior extraction only, severity of pain (p = 0.03) significantly influenced pain during the postoperative week. Questionnaires to parents revealed prolonged pain among females. Conclusion A well-established protocol is indicated to reduce operation time. Patients and their parents should be informed about the possibility of constantly subsiding postoperative pain that may last for a week. As additional local anaesthesia during general anaesthesia (GA) does not provide postoperative pain reduction in deciduous tooth extraction cases, its administration could be omitted.