Knowledge of Antibiotic Prescription Habit among Dental Students

Abstract

Antibiotics are commonly prescribed by almost all dental practitioners. The prescription habits of dentists vary among different groups of practitioners which can lead to various complications. This study aims in assessing the knowledge and practice on antibiotic prescription among the undergraduate students of a private dental college in Chennai. This study was conducted as a questionnaire based online survey in a private dental institute in Chennai. The data collection was done through google forms. Data was analysed using SPSS software.A correlation test and chi square analysis was done. On chi square analysis, the results showed p value 0.692. (> 0.05), does not have significant association. Most of the dentists preferred amoxicillin as their choice of antibiotics (82.35%). Majority of the dentists prescribed antibiotics for a period of 3-5 days (52.94%) and they prescribed antibiotics based on the symptoms of the patients. Thus, it can be concluded that the dentists had good knowledge on antibiotic prescription which is in contrary to many other studies, which may be attributed various limitations.