Evaluation of analgesic prescription patterns during root canal therapy by general dental practitioners in Isfahan, Iran

Dentists usually prescribe analgesics for controlling pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the analgesic prescription patterns of general dental practitioners in Isfahan, Iran.
In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a standard questionnaire was used and its reliability and validity were evaluated. A total of 253 general dental practitioners participating in continuous education programs were selected using simple random sampling method. The dentists responded the questions on the questionnaire. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and chi-squared test (α = 0.05).
The most commonly prescribed analgesic was 400-mg Gelofen tablet; 47.8% of dentists prescribed analgesics on an as-needed basis. In cases of severe pain, 58.5% of dentists prescribed a combination of analgesics. In addition, the most common analgesic prescribed in severe pain was dexamethasone. In this context, 48.6% of dentists used prophylactic analgesics. The prescription pattern was statistically different between dentists with more than ten years of experience and those with less than ten years of clinical experiences (p value = 0.010).
It seems it is necessary to improve general dentists’ knowledge about analgesic prescription via retraining courses.