Analgesic prescription pattern in the management of dental pain among dentists in İstanbul

OBJECTIVES: To determine the pattern of analgesic prescriptions and the information given to their patients about use of these drugs by the dentists working in Istanbul. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to 250 dentists working in Istanbul. The questionnaires consisted of open-ended questions about analgesic use in dentistry and were handed out directly to dentists. They were analyzed and responses to each question expressed as absolute frequencies. The cases and the analgesics prescribed by dentists for each case were determined by the descriptive statistics method; "frequency". RESULTS: Responses to questionnaires were received from 130 (52%) dentists. The most commonly prescribed analgesic was naproxen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It is also estimated that dentists did not prescribe selective COX-2 inhibitors or opioid analgesics. Some dentists reported prescribing more than one NSAIDs for the same patient (n = 11 cases). Although more than 75% of the dentists reported that they gave information to their patients about the use of analgesics, the content of the information was limited. DISCUSSION: The results of the questionnaires applied to the dentists showed that dentists most commonly prescribe naproxen for the management of dental pain and they rarely prescribe incompatible analgesic combinations. The results also showed that dentists informed their patients inadequately about analgesic use. Incomplete information given by dentists about drug interactions, storage conditions and price of the prescribed drugs is an important point of the study that may also affect the success ratio of the therapy and the compliance of the patients.