Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Oct 2004
Analgesic use in dentistry in a tertiary hospital in western Nepal.
The present study had been planned to determine the pattern of drug utilization of analgesics (non-opioid and opioid analgesics) in dental outpatients in a referral hospital in western Nepal. A total of 1820 prescriptions of dental patients attending the dental outpatient at Manipal Teaching Hospital (MTH), Fulbari, Pokhara, Nepal were collected by a random once-weekly survey between March 2001 and February 2002. The analgesic-containing prescriptions (n = 1346) were separated from the total prescriptions collected. ⋯ In the present study, coprescription of gastroprotective agents with analgesic use was low compared to a previous study but when opioid analgesics were prescribed, concurrent use of gastroprotective agents were irrational as opioid analgesics usually decrease the secretion of hydrochloric acid. It is also surprizing that, no gastroprotective was used when NSAIDs were prescribed alone, irrespective of sex, age, dose or duration or type of NSAID treatment in our study. There is a clear need for the development of prescribing guidelines and educational initiatives to encourage the rational and appropriate use of analgesics in dentistry.