Services on Demand
Journal
Article
Indicators
- Cited by SciELO
Related links
- Similars in SciELO
Share
Revista de la Asociación Odontológica Argentina
On-line version ISSN 2683-7226
Abstract
MARTEL, Matias E and ENSINAS, Pablo S. Evaluation of systemic medication habits of specialists and non-specialists dentists in endodontists in relation to different pulp pathologies in Argentina. Rev. Asoc. Odontol. Argent. [online]. 2023, vol.111, n.2, e1110811. Epub Aug 31, 2023. ISSN 2683-7226. http://dx.doi.org/10.52979/raoa.1110811.1219.
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.
Keywords : Antibiotics; endodontics; NSAIDs; pulpitis; pulp pathology.