307 - Sedation Services Offered at Pediatric Dental Offices in the United States as Reported on Publicly Available Practice Websites

Background: As early childhood caries impacts children throughout the United States, restorative dental procedures are often needed.  The literature indicates that due to a variety of factors, parents may research their child’s dental condition and try to find options for care that they perceive as least traumatic for their children. These options frequently include sedation and general anesthesia. This background research is typically completed via the internet on public websites.  

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to identify if information regarding specific types of sedation/anesthesia services offered by pediatric dental providers are available on practice websites and to determine if the type of information available differed depending upon practice location.  

Methods: Pediatric dental practices based in states located in Northeast, Southwest and Western districts as delineated by the AAPD were included in the study.  Practices were identified using the ABPD webpage as practices with Board Certified Pediatric dentist practitioners. Specific information regarding the availability of oral conscious sedation, IV sedation, and general anesthesia were assessed and analyzed using descriptive statistics.  Results/Conclusions: A total of 432 pediatric dental practice websites were evaluated.  34% of websites analyzed were from the Southwestern district, 30% from the Northeast district and 36% from the Western district.  While the majority of all public websites analyzed either did not mention specifically which types of sedation were offered or were unclear about the information, there were however, some statistically significant differences among regions in regard to the type of information available.