Today, attention has been paid to controlling children's fear of dental pain. This study was designed to investigate changes in fear following outpatient dental treatments under general anesthesia in children. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, two groups of 50 were selected. One of these groups underwent outpatient treatment and the other group underwent general anesthesia. Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale questionnaire was used to assess children's fear and was completed by parents before and after treatment. To analyze the data, independent t, paired t, and chi-square statistical tests and SPSS23 software were used. A significance level of 0.05 was considered. The mean fear score before the outpatient treatment was 26.3 ± 19.2 and 4-5 weeks after the treatment was 28.4 ± 24.4, which was not a significant difference. The average fear score before the start of general anesthesia treatment was 37.9 ± 24.8 and 4-5 weeks after the treatment was 40.6 ± 28.7, this difference was not significant. The difference in the average fear score before outpatient treatment and before general anesthesia was significant (P = 0.01). In addition, this average difference after outpatient treatment and after general anesthesia was significant (P = 0.02). According to the obtained results, the use of general anesthesia as a treatment method did not increase fear in the present study subjects.
