Study of drug utilization pattern in dental OPD at tertiary care teaching hospital.

Irrational prescribing is a global phenomenon. The objective of the study was to find out the prescribing practices of dental prescribers in a tertiary care teaching hospital with special emphasis on the utilization of antimicrobial agents. A prospective study was conducted in the month of March 2000. A total of 491 prescriptions were collected randomly. Prescribing pattern was analyzed using WHO basic drug indicators. The average number of drugs for prescription was 2.4. 78.8% of all prescriptions contained antimicrobial agents. It was most commonly prescribed (40.37%) group of drugs followed by anti-inflammatory and analgesics (33.8%). Fixed dose combination of ampicillin and cloxacillin was most commonly prescribed antimicrobial agents. Prophylactic use of AMA (78%) was more than therapeutic purpose (21.9%). Prophylactic use of antimicrobial agents was irrational in all the cases as duration for the use of antimicrobial agents was 5.1 +/- 0.5 days. Fixed dose combinations (45%), drugs by brand name (98.5%) were frequently used. Drug prescribed from Essential Drug List was maximum when one drug was prescribed. Results indicate that there is a scope for improving prescribing habits and minimizing the use of antimicrobial agents. This could be facilitated by periodic education to the prescribers.