RESUMEN
Objective: To determine the prescribing patterns of the general dental practitioners in Kerman province in Iran. Material and Methods: In this cross sectional study 1200 prescriptions, which were prescribed by general dentists in Kerman province during one-year period, were evaluated. Each prescription was assessed for the number of drugs per prescription, drug (category, name, route of administration, frequency) and duration of treatment. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the absolute and relative frequencies, mean and standard deviation. The Chi-square test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test were used. The statistical tests were performed at the significance level of 0.05. Results: The mean number of drugs per prescription was 2.59. Antibiotics, Analgesics, corticosteroids and antiseptics were the most common drug category prescribed drugs by general dentists. Oral route was the commonest route of drug prescription (84.1%). Amoxicillin capsule (60.5%) was the commonest drug prescribed by general practitioners followed by ibuprofen derivatives (55.4%). Spelling errors was found in 62.7% of prescriptions. The mean score of prescriptions for logical prescription pattern was 7.36 ± 1.32 out of 9. Conclusion: Dental prescribing patterns should be considered as a potential area for improvement in the treatment process and patient safety. It is suggested to emphasis more on principles of prescription at university and retraining courses for dentists.