title: Prophylactic and Therapeutic Antibiotic Patterns of Lebanese Dentists for the Management of Dentoalveolar Abscesses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  General dentists issue approximately 10% of antibiotic prescriptions across the global medical community consummation. The use of antibiotics for the management of dentoalveolar infections should be considered only in the presence of an increased risk of a systemic involvement or to prevent metastatic infections. This study aimed to investigate the prophylactic and therapeutic antibiotic prescription patterns of Lebanese dentists for the management of dentoalveolar abscesses. The aim was to evaluate the influence of the patients' medical condition and clinical signs data on the patterns of antibiotics prescription.
  
  
  METHODS
  Only patients with a dentoalveolar abscess were included in the study. Age, medical history, reason for consultation, clinical signs and symptoms, diagnosis, type of local treatment, and type of antibiotherapy were collected for each patient attending dental clinics in Beirut. The data were analyzed with chi-square test and multivariate regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 563 initial patients, 127 were selected for the study and received a local treatment. The patient's medical condition and age did not affect the decision to prescribe antibiotics 36.2% patients with pain and 11.8% patients with swelling were prescribed antibiotics. Pain and swelling contributed to a higher level of antibiotic prescription compared to other signs and symptoms. Antibiotics were prescribed inappropriately to 51.76 and 38.10% among patients with an acute or chronic dentoalveolar abscess respectively. The main prescribed antibiotic was amoxicillin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that dentists often did not follow the current prophylactic and therapeutic antibiotic prescription guidelines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Antibiotics prescriptions in dentistry will be more pertinent, leading to a decrease in inadequacy of prescriptions, microbial resistance, and the development of multiresistant germs against antibiotics.
authors.affiliation: PhD Student, Doctorate School for Science and Technology, Research Platform for Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon, Phone: +9613234189, e-mail: ghadaasmar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ghada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Asmar
authors.affiliation: Biomathematics Laboratory EA 2694, Lille 2 University, Lille France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cochelard
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mokhbat
authors.affiliation: Biomathematics Laboratory EA 2694, Lille 2 University, Lille France.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemdani
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Quality of Care, Lille 2 University, Lille France.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haddadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Dental Medicine Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Fouad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ayoubz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D005260:Female; D005792:General Practice, Dental; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010482:Periapical Abscess / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Acute abscess; Antibiotics; Cellulitis; Dental infection; Prescriptions.