Therapeutic Practice Preference in Dentistry: Antibiotics, Analgesics and Antiseptics

Abstract

Objective: Present study was aimed to find out the commonest medicines used in dentistry as preferred by dental practitioners in Nepal. Materials and Methods: Seventy pre-structured questionnaires were distributed to the dental practitioners. Questionnaire was designed to evaluate the use of the antimicrobial, analgesic and antiseptic agents. A total of three open ended questions were included in each questionnaire to know the preference of dental practitioners for different medicines used in dentistry. Yates corrected Chi square test was used wherever applicable and level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Amoxicillin (89.4%, P<0.05), metronidazole (57.8%), amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (21%) and doxycycline (26.2%) were the most frequently preferred antibiotics of first, second, third and fourth choice respectively. Similarly, among analgesics, ibuprofen (52.6%), diclofenac (31.5%), paracetamol (47.3%) and nimesulide (24.5%) had the highest predilection for first, second, third and fourth choice respectively among the dental practitioners. Chlorhexidine (77.2%, P<0.05)) was the most selected antiseptic for the first choice followed by listerine for the second (31.5%) and third (43.8%) choice. Conclusion: First choice antibiotic, analgesic and antiseptic are amoxicillin, ibuprofen and chlorhexidine respectively among the majority of dental practitioners. Asian Journal of Medical Science, Volume-4 (2013), Pages 17-23 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v4i4.8062