Abdellatif Hoda M, Alsagob Eman I, Hebbal Mamata, Kotha Sree Lalita, Aldossary Mohammed, Pai Khot Atrey J, Varghese Anu Sara, Yahya Basma, Alajlan Ghadah, Alshamrani Lamar
Public Health Sciences Department, College of Dentistry, Texas A&M University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.
Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
PLoS One. 2025 Mar 31;20(3):e0320528. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320528. eCollection 2025.
The global emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance jeopardise health-care advances and life expectancy. Following the latest antibiotic guidelines is crucial to combat this issue. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the knowledge regarding antibiotics prescription and investigate the evidence-based practices among dental practitioners in Saudi Arabia.
This cross-sectional study was conducted during November 2020 to April 2021 in Saudi Arabia. A self-designed validated questionnaire comprising 27 close ended knowledge-based questions and 9 practice-based question was administered among dentists working in various settings through online generated link. A pilot study in 20 dental specialists and consultants was conducted prior to the study, to arise at sample size of 318. Reliability of the questionnaire was assessed with Cronbach's α value of 0.85, face validity of 84%, and content validity ratio of 0.78. The knowledge and practice score were graded based on quartile derivatives. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis, chi square analysis, correlation, and regression by IBM SPSS® Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
The average age of the participants was 36.3 ± 5.9 years, and their average experience was about 7.3 years. The mean knowledge score was 19.62 ± 4.28 with government employees scoring higher (20.03 ± 3.90) compared to private practitioners and academicians. Clinicians with less than five years of experience had significantly higher knowledge scores (p = 0.002). The majority of the participants, 218 (68.55%), had good practices while 100 (31.44%) participants showed poor practices. Moreover, only half of the participants could correctly identify the majority of case-based scenarios related to antibiotic prescriptions.
Dentists in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have a good level of knowledge and practices on antibiotics prescription. However, some aspects of poor practices particularly among private sector clinicians necessitate the launching of educational campaigns, interventions and provision of latest guidelines for prudent use of antibiotics in dental practice.
抗生素耐药性在全球范围内的出现和传播危及医疗保健的进步和预期寿命。遵循最新的抗生素指南对于应对这一问题至关重要。因此，本研究的目的是评估沙特阿拉伯牙科医生对抗生素处方的了解情况，并调查他们基于证据的实践。
本横断面研究于2020年11月至2021年4月在沙特阿拉伯进行。通过在线生成的链接，向在不同环境中工作的牙医发放了一份自行设计并经过验证的问卷，该问卷包括27个基于知识的封闭式问题和9个基于实践的问题。在研究之前，对20名牙科专家和顾问进行了预试验，以确定样本量为318。问卷的信度通过Cronbach's α值0.85、表面效度84%和内容效度比0.78进行评估。知识和实践得分根据四分位数导数进行分级。数据使用IBM SPSS® Statistics for Windows 28.0版进行描述性分析、卡方分析、相关性分析和回归分析。纽约州阿蒙克：IBM公司。
参与者的平均年龄为36.3±5.9岁，平均从业经验约为7.3年。知识得分的平均值为19.62±4.28，政府雇员的得分（20.03±3.90）高于私人执业医生和学者。从业经验少于五年的临床医生的知识得分显著更高（p = 0.002）。大多数参与者，即218名（68.55%），有良好的实践，而100名（31.44%）参与者表现出不良实践。此外，只有一半的参与者能够正确识别与抗生素处方相关的大多数基于病例的情况。
沙特阿拉伯王国的牙医在抗生素处方方面有良好的知识水平和实践。然而，不良实践的某些方面，特别是在私营部门临床医生中，需要开展教育活动、进行干预并提供牙科实践中谨慎使用抗生素的最新指南。
