Antibiotic Prescription During Endodontic Treatment: Knowledge and Practices of Dental Interns in Saudi Arabia

Background: Antibiotics are widely used in dental practice, especially for endodontic infections. The present survey aimed to investigate the knowledge and practices of dental interns in Saudi Arabia regarding antibiotic prescription for endodontic treatment. Methods: The present online questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study involved dental interns in private and public dental schools, Saudi Arabia. A pre-validated questionnaire was distributed to 900 dental interns via different social media platforms. The questionnaire consisted of 16 close-ended questions related to participants’ demographic data and knowledge and practices of antibiotic prescription in context of endodontic treatments. Data were managed and analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 25, and Chi-square test was used to compare between the groups. Results: A total of 555 dental interns completed the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 61.1%. Overall, the surveyed participants revealed inadequate knowledge and unnecessary use of antibiotics during endodontic procedures. While majority of the participants (75.3%) correctly identified the first choice of antibiotics during endodontic treatments, a considerable proportion of the participants did not recognize the clinical indications of antibiotics in endodontic patients. Additionally, around one-fifth (18.9%) of the participants were unaware of the potential side effects of the prescribed antibiotics. Conclusion: The present survey revealed unsatisfactory knowledge and practices of antibiotic prescription in context of endodontic therapy among Saudi dental interns. Therefore, dental schools in Saudi Arabia should address such a gap through updating the curriculum and integrating real-world clinical scenarios using problem-based learning. Additionally, periodic continuous education courses aiming at improving dental professionals’ knowledge about antibiotics and their clinical uses for endodontic therapy are highly encouraged.Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library

CHRONIC JOINT PAIN MANAGEMENT

Introduction: In the year 2010, the Pain Management Task Force of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) stated on their guidelines regarding pain as a crucial consideration within the clinical practice of rheumatologists and rheumatology around the world. The Executive Committee of the ACR later recommended the task force to raise the knowledge of a rheumatologist’s part during the management of pain and the place of pain in rheumatology-related research, practice, and clinical education protocols. The report included guidelines to be recommended by the ACR and the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP). Since the year 2010, the Institute of Medicine published their guidelines with the title “Relieving Pain in America,” which focused on the importance of tailoring pain care to the special needs of the level of individual patients; these guidelines also emphasized on the high importance of inter-disciplinary clinical care. however, in the last decade, the guidelines of ACR Pain Management Task Force have achieved only limited goals as had occurred similarly with similar guidelines published by other association like the Institute of Medicine. With the 2010 Task Force guidelines in mind, this review will provide an update of the status of the place of pain as a general concern during the practice of the subspecialty of rheumatology.Aim of work: In this review, we will discuss Chronic joint pain management.Methodology: We did a systematic search for Chronic joint pain management in the emergency department using PubMed search engine (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and Google Scholar search engine (https://scholar.google.com). All relevant studies were retrieved and discussed. We only included full articles.Conclusions: The issue of pain and its therapy is still an area of research, debates and clinical significance. Our understanding of pain pathophysiology is improving but remains not complete. Pain therapies remain insufficient in benefits and linked to with several toxicities. Despite this, rheumatologists and physicians continue to treat patients with painful rheumatic conditions on a daily basis. The specialty of rheumatology, through its professional organizations ACR and ARHP must keep the forefront of advances in the elucidation of pain and its impact on patients with rheumatic diseases. The ACR and ARHP must be committed to supporting pain research and informing its membership, including trainees, about advances in this field. Key words: Chronic joint pain, causes, management