title: Potentially serious drug-drug interactions among community-dwelling older adult dental patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Reducing adverse drug events, including those resulting from drug-drug interactions, will be a health safety issue of increasing importance for dental practitioners in the coming decades as greater numbers of older adults seek oral health care. The purpose of this study was to identify prescription drugs with the potential for serious interactions and estimate prevalent use among older adults visiting the dentist.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey is an ongoing series of nationally representative surveys of Medicare beneficiaries. Potentially serious drug interactions were selected with the use of published work by Partnership to Prevent Drug-Drug Interactions. Drug interactions were identified and prevalence estimates made for community-dwelling older adults visiting the dentist. Analyses were completed to test associations between sociodemographic and health-related variables and the use of prescription drugs with the potential for serious interactions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 3.4% of those visiting the dentist were estimated to have been prescribed drugs with the potential for a serious drug interaction. Drugs commonly prescribed in dentistry with the potential for serious interactions include the benzodiazepines, macrolide antibiotics, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory analgesics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Understanding potentially harmful drug combinations, their clinical consequences, and the frequency with which implicated drugs are being prescribed will assist practitioners in clinically managing patients and avoiding inappropriate prescribing.
authors.affiliation: Developmental and Surgical Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. skaar003@umn.edu
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Skaar
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000009:adverse effects; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000009:adverse effects; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000009:adverse effects; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000009:adverse effects; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000009:adverse effects; D016321:Dental Care for Aged; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D057187:Independent Living; D018942:Macrolides / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D006278:Medicare; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects; D053210:Pharmaceutical Preparations, Dental / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000009:adverse effects; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000925:Anticoagulants; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D018942:Macrolides; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors; D053210:Pharmaceutical Preparations, Dental; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D013963:Thyroid Hormones