Abstract

Background: Prescriptions of drugs are a mainstay for control of dental pain and infections, but data lacks on the prescribing habits of dental practitioners.

Aims and Objectives: To study drug utilization pattern at dental outpatient department comparing observed patterns of drug use with current recommendation or guidelines.

Materials and Methods: Data were collected for 934 patients for about 3 months in the detailed case record form and that were analyzed using WHO core indicators.

Results: Out of 934 patients for 390 were prescribed medications. The average number of drugs per encounter was 1.82, and only 1.58% drugs were prescribed by generic name. A number of drugs given by injectable route was only 0.38%. A total number of antimicrobial prescribed was 447 (41.54%) and 85.03% were prescribed from essential medicine list (EML).

Conclusion: There is no trend of polypharmacy and most drugs being prescribed from EML but need awareness among detail practitioners for prescribing drugs by generic name and more use of unjustifiable antimicrobials leads to drug resistance.

Key words: Drug Utilization; Prescribing Core Indicators; Polypharmacy