Aim

Determine the systemic medication habits of dentists specialists and non-specialists in endodontists in different pulp pathologies prior to root canal treatment in Argentina.

Materials and methods

A survey was designed to evaluate the prescription of antibiotics, the type of antibiotics, prescription time, indication of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in different pulp pathologies. It was sent to 635 general dentists and endodontic specialists via SurveyMonkey. A Chi-square test was made to evaluate the differences in medication between the studied groups.

Results

In pulpitis, antibiotics were prescribed in 3.48% of cases and anti-inflammatories in 62.60%. In pulpal necrosis without fistula, no medication was indicated in 64.47% of cases, followed by antibiotics in 24.56%. In necrosis with fistula, 52.38% did not indicate any medication, followed by medication with antibiotics in 35.49%. In acute apical periodontitis the main medication was anti-inflammatories (52.79%), followed by antibiotics (32.87%); and for acute alveolar abscess, 57.10% indicated antibiotics, followed by anti-inflammatories. The antibiotic of choice was penicillin in 65.23% of the cases, and in case of allergy to it, the chosen antibiotic was azithromycin (30.12%). The prescription time was 7 days. In the comparison between specialists and non-specialists, there were significant differences for pulpitis and necrosis with fistula (p<0.01) and there were no significant differences between necrosis without fistula, acute apical periodontitis and acute alveolar abscess (p>0.05).

Conclusions

Penicillin was the antibiotic of choice for the majority of the surveyed Argentine dentists, as well as ibuprofen as an anti-inflammatory drug. These could reflect an overmedication in endodontics pathologies that could contribute to microbial resistance to antibiotics.