Sedation or general anaesthesia for treating anxious children.

Data Sources: Relevant literature was selected following searches using the following: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, Embase (OVID), System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, ISI Web of Science; and searches were made by hand of: Journal of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, Anaesthesia, British Dental Journal, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Dental Update, International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, Journal of American Dental Association, Journal of Dentistry for Children and Pediatric Dentistry.

Study Selection: Reports were selected if they described randomised controlled clinical trials (RCT) of sedative agents compared with general anaesthesia in children and adolescents aged up to 18 years who were having dental treatment: complex surgical procedures and pseudo-randomised trials were excluded. There were no language restrictions.

Data Extraction And Synthesis: Titles and abstracts were assessed for inclusion by two authors with relevant information recorded in a specially designed data extraction form.

Results: Fifteen studies were identified for potential inclusion after searching the available databases and screening the titles and abstracts, and a further study was found through personal contacts. Following retrieval of the full text of the studies, it was concluded that none was eligible.

Conclusions: RCT that compare the use of dental general anaesthesia with sedation to quantify differences such as morbidity and cost are required.