title: Appraisal of antimicrobial prescribing practices of governmental and non-governmental dentists for hospitals in the western region of Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To scrutinize the knowledge, attitude, and antimicrobial practices in Saudi Arabian Dentistry.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional survey of dentists, a self-administered questionnaire comprising of 61 questions was dispersed to the participants randomly, which included their professional profile, awareness of the current scope of antimicrobial resistance, prescribing practice, frequency of antimicrobial prescription, and sources of continuing education of antimicrobials. The study took place in the Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between February and April 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Knowledge and awareness concerning specific antimicrobials, with specific oral cavity lesion was 78% for the students and interns, 80% for residents, and 95.3% for specialists. Approximately 89% of the students, interns and residents, and 98.4% of the specialists endorsed indiscriminate use of antibiotics. In addition, 93.4% of students, 90% of interns and residents, and 90.6% of specialists agreed that lack of health education is one of the contributors to overuse of antimicrobials. Moreover, 91.9% of the interns, 80% of residents, and 75.5% of specialists preferred amoxicillin + clavulanate as their first choice; however, a wide variation in the dosage frequency, and duration was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participants are well aware of the significance of antimicrobial resistance, and considered that judicious use of antimicrobials is highly imperative to restrain this fiery predicament. Divergence was demonstrated between specialists and residents in prescribing practices. Institutional antimicrobial guideline was not interesting to all the respondents. This highlights the need for incessant instructive intervention in order to accomplish the prime objective of retreating antimicrobial resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, PO Box 80205, Jeddah 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tel. +966 536010070. E-mail: salharthi@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sameer E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Al-Harthi
authors.forename: Lateef M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Hassan H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Abed
authors.forename: Huda M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Alkreathy
authors.forename: Ahmed S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003813:Dentistry; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents