Kinder way to knock out kiddies.

CHILDREN petrified by the prospect of major dental surgery could be offered an alternative to general anaesthetic.

Specialists in working with nervous patients hope techniques tested in Teesside could help cut the number of young people admitted to hospital for procedures.

All dental general anaesthetics have been administered in hospitals since the government banned their use in surgeries in January 2002, following a spate of patient deaths.

But clinical trials involving more than 600 children with extreme dental problems have seen huge successes in the use of new sedation procedures.

Government-funded research conducted by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne at Queensway Anxiety Management Clinic, in Billingham, Tees- side, found the new procedure was successful in 93 per cent of cases.

The results are published in the September issue of the academic journal, Anaesthesia.