Pediatric dentists, general dental practitioners, &Intern dental students compliance with antibiotic prescribing guidelines for dental infections in children

Abstract

Purpose : To investigate the antibiotic prescribing training received in the past by dentists, clinical experience in treating child patients, awareness of antibiotic prescribing guidelines, and compliance with the antibiotic prescribing guidelines for the management ofdental infectionsinchildren. Method : Across sectional survey was conducted to pediatric dentists, general dental practitioners & intern dental student at faculty of dentistry in Benghazi using a self administrated questionnaire, the survey was approved by institutional review board at university of Benghazi . A self-administered questionnaire consisting of five clinical case scenarioswas answered by pediatric dentists, general dental practitioners and intern dental students in Benghazi responses were compared for each XIII clinical case scenario with the prescribing guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Dental Association. Results : Totally, three hundred ninety five (395) participants had filled the questionnaire in about (15_20 minutes) for each one , only 43.98% of all participants reported that they had training in antibiotic prescribing in the past . pediatric dentists (92.85%) were more likely to report awareness compared with general dental practitioners (71.79%), and only (30.8%) of the intern students show awareness of antibiotic prescribing guidelines . Generally the adherence ranged between 11% and 19%. Highest adherence rate among the pediatric dentists was in case 3 (57%), among GDPs was in case 4 (16.6%), and dental trainees was in case 5 (38%). On the other hand, the lowest adherence for pediatric dentists was in case 5 (14%), among GDPs and dental trainees in case 2 (8%& 19.7%, respectively). Conclusion : The results of this study show low awareness and adherence specially among the general dental practitioners and intern dental students , the pediatric dentists show better adherence to professional guide lines for prescribing antibiotics for dental infections in children.