Principles of Prescription among Dentists in Tabriz In 2011

Statement of the problem: Many diseases to be treated by dentists require drug therapy. Lack of paying enough attention to principles of drug prescription can lead to problems such as unsuccessful treatment. On the other hand, the most important way to prevent such problems is paying enough attention to prescription of drugs. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 260 prescriptions randomly gathered from 20 drugstores in Tabriz were evaluated. Each prescription was assessed on the basis of numbering, drug form, instructions, dosage, spelling and interactions. Data were analyzed using SPSS 15. Results: 72.3% of prescriptions belonged to male and 27.7% belonged to female dentists. Of these 80.8% were prescribed by general dentists, 2.7% by post-graduate students and 16.5% by specialists. In order to assess the relation between the time of graduation and attention to principles, medical certificate number was used to categorize data. Conclusion: Principles of drug prescription were followed more accurately by female groups. Instructions and spelling received more attention by specialists and post-graduate students compared to general dentists, which might be attributed to the fact that more explanations are needed for specialized treatments offered to pharmacists and patients