A questionnaire study to bridge the gap in teaching and prescribing of analgesics by dentists

Abstract

This study focus on the current trend of prescribing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug at a tertiary care teaching dental hospital in Jaipur. After taking permission from the Institutional Ethical Committee, this questionnaire study was carried out with the final year and intern students at tertiary care centre. Our study revealed paracetamol (41.4%) as the commonly prescribed analgesics followed by ibuprofen (24.5%). More than 60% of the respondents had good knowledge of contraindications to the use of these analgesics. Respondent’s knowledge regarding drug-drug interactions was fair. More than 70% were aware of interactions of diuretics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, while about 95% correctly recognized the interaction of these analgesics with corticosteroids. Our study highlights the importance of knowledge of concurrent drug administration by the dentists to prevent adverse drug events.