Prognosis following dental implant treatment under general anesthesia in patients with special needs

BACKGROUND: This study retrospectively investigated outcomes following dental implantation in patients with special needs who required general anesthesia to enable treatment. METHODS: Patients underwent implant treatment under general anesthesia at the Clinic for the Disabled in Seoul National University Dental Hospital between January 2004 and June 2017. The study analyzed medical records and radiographs. Implant survival rates were calculated by applying criteria for success or failure. RESULTS: Of 19 patients in the study, 8 were males and 11 were females, with a mean age of 32.9 years. The patients included 11 with mental retardation, 3 with autism, 2 with cerebral palsy, 2 with schizophrenia, and 1 with a brain disorder; 2 patients also had seizure disorders. All were incapable of oral self-care due to serious cognitive impairment and could not cooperate with normal dental treatment. A total of 27 rounds of general anesthesia and 1 round of intravenous sedation were performed for implant surgery. Implant placement was performed in 3 patients whose prosthesis records could not be found, while 3 other patients had less than 1 year of follow-up after prosthetic treatment. When the criteria for implant success or failure were applied in 13 remaining patients, 3 implant failures occurred in 59 total treatments. The cumulative survival rate of implants over an average of 43.3 months (15-116 months) was 94.9%. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with severe cognitive impairment who are incapable of oral self-care, implant treatment under general anesthesia showed a favorable prognosis.

Anesthetic management for simultaneous drug-induced sleep endoscopy and maxillomandibular advancement in a patient with obstructive sleep apnea

Drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) is used to identify areas of upper airway obstruction, which occurs when patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) snore. DISE enables effective diagnosis and appropriate treatment of the obstruction site. Among surgical treatment methods for OSA, maxillomandibular advancement surgery (MMA) is performed to move a jaw forward; the surgery has a high success rate for OSA treatment. In DISE, anesthetics such as propofol and midazolam must be administered to induce snoring while the patient is deeply sedated for an accurate diagnosis to be made. When inducing deep sedation in a patient with OSA, airway obstruction may increase, causing oxygen saturation to drop; airway interventions are necessary in such cases. Effective DISE and MMA surgery can be performed by administering propofol through target-controlled infusion while monitoring the bispectral index (BIS).