Assessment of the Level of Knowledge and Awareness of Dentists About Antibiotic Prophylaxis

Abstract

Purpose Antibiotic prophylaxis defines the practice of antibiotics prior to surgical or non-surgical procedures to prevent local or systemic bacterial infective complications. Infective endocarditis is a serious infection of the heart valves and endocardium mostly associated with congenital and acquired cardiac defects. It has also been shown that infective endocarditis is associated with bacteremia following dental treatment. The aim of the study is to determine the preferences of dentists for the application of antibiotic prophylaxis and to increase awareness by measuring their level of knowledge. Material and Methods This study was carried out in Turkey with dentists and dental students using online. In the survey, which was answered by 417 participants, participants were asked a total of 11 questions in 4 separate sections. Results The results of the study showed that the participants most frequently prescribed prophylactic antibiotics in the presence of heart valve prosthesis with 95.5% and a history of previous infective endocarditis with 92.9%, before surgical tooth extraction with 96.4% and implant surgery with 94.1 %. As a prophylactic antibiotic, 66.5% of the participants routinely preferred amoxicillin and 77.1% preferred clindamycin if the patient was allergic to penicillin. Answers regarding prophylactic antibiotic dose and duration were classified according to AHA’s 2007 guidelines, and female participants (58%) and dentistry students (78.1 %) gave the highest correct answers accordingly. Conclusion With this study, it was once again demonstrated that it is extremely important for physicians to follow current guidelines and minimize the risk of bacteremia by taking detailed anamnesis from the patient, and the need to increase awareness of this issue.

Keywords

• Antibiotic prophylaxis
• infective endocarditis
• bacteremia
• dentists’ knowledge

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