Department of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 30;15(12):e0244585. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244585. eCollection 2020.
The indiscriminate prescription of antibiotics has led to the emergence of resistance microbes worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the antibiotic prescribing practices amongst general dental practitioners and specialists in managing endodontic infections in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
General dental practitioners and specialists in the UAE were invited to participate in an online questionnaire survey which included questions on socio-demographics, practitioner's antibiotic prescribing preferences for various pulpal and periapical diseases, and their choice, in terms of the type, dose and duration of the antibiotic. The link to the survey questionnaire was sent to 250 invited dentists. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and chi-square tests for independence and level of significance was set at 0.05.
A total of 174 respondents participated in the survey (response rate = 70%). The respondents who prescribed antibiotics at least once a month were 38.5% while 17.2% did so, more than three times a week; amoxicillin 500 mg was the antibiotic of choice for patients not allergic to penicillin (43.7%), and in cases of penicillin allergies, erythromycin 500 mg (21.3%). There was a significant difference in the antibiotic prescribing practices of GDPs compared to endodontists and other specialties especially in clinical cases such as acute apical abscesses with swelling and moderate to severe pre-operative symptoms and retreatment of endodontic cases (p<0.05). Approximately, three quarters of the respondents (78.7%) did not prescribe a loading dose when prescribing antibiotics. About 15% respondents prescribed antibiotics to their patients if they were not accessible to patients due to a holiday/weekend.
In general, the antibiotic prescribing practices of UAE dentists are congruent with the international norms. However, there were occasions of inappropriate prescriptions such as in patients with irreversible pulpitis, necrotic pulps with no systemic involvement and/or with sinus tracts.
抗生素的滥用导致全球出现了耐药微生物。本研究旨在调查阿联酋（UAE）的普通牙医和牙髓病专家在治疗牙髓和根尖周感染时的抗生素使用情况。
阿联酋的普通牙医和牙髓病专家受邀参加了一项在线问卷调查，其中包括有关社会人口统计学、医生对各种牙髓和根尖周疾病的抗生素使用偏好，以及他们在抗生素类型、剂量和疗程方面的选择等问题。向 250 名受邀牙医发送了调查问卷的链接。采用描述性统计和独立性卡方检验对数据进行分析，显著性水平设为 0.05。
共有 174 名受访者参与了调查（应答率=70%）。每月至少开一次抗生素的受访者占 38.5%，每周开三次以上的占 17.2%；对青霉素不过敏的患者首选抗生素为阿莫西林 500mg（43.7%），对青霉素过敏的患者首选红霉素 500mg（21.3%）。与牙髓病专家和其他专科医生相比，普通牙医在抗生素使用方面存在显著差异，特别是在急性根尖脓肿伴肿胀和中度至重度术前症状和牙髓再治疗等临床病例中（p<0.05）。约 78.7%的受访者在开抗生素时没有开负荷剂量。大约 15%的受访者会在因假期/周末无法联系到患者时给他们开抗生素。
总的来说，阿联酋牙医的抗生素使用情况与国际规范一致。然而，在某些情况下存在不合理的处方，如不可逆性牙髓炎、无全身感染的坏死牙髓和/或窦道患者。
