THE ROLE OF PHARMACISTS IN MANAGING DENTAL PAIN AND INFECTIONS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the level of knowledge, self-reported confidence, and prescription patterns among pharmacists regarding analgesics used for managing dental pain and infections in Croatia. Knowledge and prescribing pattern differences were also assessed based on gender, age, years of practice, and working in a community pharmacy compared to hospital care. Methods: A questionnaire comprising 19 questions was administered, including questions on the level of knowledge, self-reported confidence, and prescription patterns regarding analgesic administration in dental pain/infection management. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The results showed that pharmacists have a good general knowledge of analgesics but have problems applying it in practice. All pharmacists believed that they could confidently recommend analgesics for dental pain/infections and could recommend topical NSAIDs if asked by only a dentist yet they were unsure whether those pharmaceuticals should be prescribed. Younger pharmacists are more likely to recommend paracetamol for pain in children. The longer the respondents have been working, the more they will usually ask patients for recent/other therapy before recommending NSAIDs or corticosteroids. For currently taken anti-inflammatory or anticoagulants, a better-prescribing recommendation is expected from those working in hospital care. Finally, for those who worked in community pharmacy onwards, there was an expectation of better knowledge of treatment goals. Conclusion: This study provided the first data set from Croatia on the knowledge of analgesics for managing dental pain/infections among pharmacists. Overall, pharmacists displayed a good level of knowledge of analgesics, considering those pharmaceuticals’ sources of information. However, some knowledge gaps and the risk of allergies, contraindications, or other diseases with a wrong recommendation on treatment goals and pharmaceutical use were exposed, indicating limited and inadequate education in this field.