Limited OR Access Affects Patient Care

Objective: To discuss the challenges with limited operating room (OR) access for pediatric dentists, the subsequent impacts on patient care, and the ethical implications thereof. Discussion: Given that the article was geared toward a broader audience than pediatric dentists, it explained the ubiquity of early childhood caries, the need for OR access to care for young children and individuals with special needs, the sequelae of untreated dental caries, and the disproportionate burden of caries and challenges to access on those of low socioeconomic status (SES) and with special needs. The authors presented 4 cases that are likely daily occurrences for most pediatric dentists. The scenarios highlighted the consequences of inadequate OR access such as delaying care to the point where teeth were no longer restorable, needing to use OR time for a child that doesn’t need to be seen in an OR setting but that is the only setting where insurance will cover general anesthesia, treating children more...