Antibiotic prescribing practices among Norwegian dentists.
OBJECTIVE
There is little information on antibiotic prescribing habits among dentists in general. In 1992 we reported a study among Norwegian dentists, and the present investigation was undertaken to find out if the patterns of antibiotic prescription had changed since then.


METHODS
A total of 470 randomly selected dentists (10% of total) received a questionnaire and a letter describing the survey and 313 responded.


RESULTS
Results indicated that 35% did not issue any prescriptions in a typical week, while 3% issued > or =5. Fifty percent reported that they might prescribe antibiotics when treating periodontal diseases, but only 3.4% reported the use of microbial diagnosis before selecting an antibiotic; 71% of the respondents reported use of antibiotics occasionally to prevent general complications of dental treatment; 80% prescribed antibiotics for prophylactic use if the patient revealed a history of endocarditis, while 5% reported never doing so.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings are in concert with the results obtained 11 years ago, but indicating that dentists who had attended postgraduate courses on antibiotics prescribed such drugs more frequently. This was not statistically significant. However, it is of great concern that 5% never prescribed antibiotics when treating patients with a history of endocarditis, and that 20% did not know that amoxicillin was a penicillin. Such lack of knowledge may cause fatal results of therapy.
Demirbas
Fahri
F
Department of Periodontology, IKO, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Gjermo
Per E
PE
Preus
Hans R
HR
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004498:Education, Dental, Continuing; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D009664:Norway; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents