9. International Health Sciences and Management Conference, İstanbul, Türkiye, 23 - 25 Mayıs 2024
Tuğba Emine BEYHAN1,2, Gülcan
BERKEL3 Can AKMANSOY4 Gonca MUMCU5
ABSTRACT
Problem of the Research: The high prevalence of oral health problems and the
need of specialized dental services of disabled individuals are essential
problems for the health policies.
Purpose of the Study: This study aimed to determine the profiles of
disabled individuals who received dental treatments under general anesthesia.
Method:
In this retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study, 262 disabled patients were
included. Their socio-demographic profiles and dental treatments as well as
general anaesthesia related factors were extracted from the hospital
information management system in the Dental School of Marmara University.
Results: The study group covered both adult (n=162, 61.8%) and pediatric dental
patients (n=100, 38.2%). While 84%(n=220) of the patients resided in Istanbul,
16%(n=42) of them applied to the dental school from different cities. It was observed that 10.3%(n=27) of the patients had a
Green Card and 28.2%(n=74) made out-of-pocket payments during the service
process.
In addition to their comorbidities,
Mental retardation (n=146, 55.7%), Epilepsy (n=73, 27.9%), Autism (n=56, 21.4%)
and Cerebral palsy (n=41, 15.6%) were the most common conditions in the study
group. As related with their clinical manifestations, the highest consultation
demand was in the field of Neurology. The majority of patients (n=203, 77.5%) had
received at least single general anesthesia session before
appliying dental school.
The waiting time for first
general anesthesia session was found as 278.2 days in the study group. The ratio
of patients whose first intraoral examinations were performed under general
anesthesia was 16.8%(n=44) in the whole group. Restorative
treatments were the most performed under general anesthesia whereas
prosthodontic treatments were the most under sedation.
Conclusion: The specialized institutions that provide general anesthesia services
and facilitate consultation processes and access to dental care services are
critical to improve oral health of disabiled patients in the health policy
perspective.
Keywords: Oral Health, General Anesthesia, Disability, Access to Dental Care