Knowledge, attitudes and practices of pediatricians about effects of pediatric drugs on oral health: a survey study

INTRODUCTION: Pediatricians may be able to play an important and effective role in providing anticipatory guidance on oral health of children. When they make the right reccommendations, the erosive, cariogenic and staining effects of medications are predicted to reduced. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of pediatrists on effects of medication use on oral health.
METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive survey study was conducted on pediatricians practicing in Istanbul, Turkey. Data were collected by distributing the questionnaire to the pediatricians that works in the hospitals and private clinics. Differences between proportions of categories were assessed using the chi-square tests. The differences between two ordinal variables runksums as nonparametric test, Mann Whitney U tests for quantitative analysis.
RESULTS: 54.3% of the responders informing patients about oral health after prescribing the drugs. Only 27% of the pediatricians felt knowledgeable about informing parents about oral care after drug use. However only 17.7% of them agreed with the statement that their training about oral health during medical school/pediatrics is adequately.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There is a need to organize the curriculum related to oral health in pediatrics education and to increase the level of knowledge of pediatricians through educational programmes.