Résumé
Every day, numerous people undergo dental treatments, and if required different drugs are prescribed by dentists. Some patients have systemic disorders, so dentists must have correct information about drug prescriptions and drugs that are to be used by their patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the awareness of dentists and dentistry students about using drugs in dentistry. In this cross-sectional study, the awareness of general dentists and dentistry students about drugs used in dentistry were evaluated during 2009-2010. A questionnaire was prepared and completed by 58 final year dental students and 96 Hamadan general dental practitioners for a total of 154 completed questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of some demographic questions and questions about their awareness and their main information resources about drugs. Gathered data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Chi-square, Mann-Whitney and Independent t-test statistical analysis. More questions about drug awareness were answered by dental students than general dentists. Dentistry students answered the question about awareness of drugs used in dentistry more correctly than did general dentists [64.96% versus 56.73%, respectively] P<0.001. The assessment of general dentists and dentistry students indicated that the awareness of dentistry students was much better, and the difference was statistically significant. Overall, 94.9% of students had to some extent desirable and completely desirable awareness, while this level for general dentists was about 82.3%. The awareness level of general dentists about drugs which are used in dentistry is moderate. An inverse relationship between job experience and the score of awareness shows that the awareness of dentists has not updated along with experience and there is no serious follow-up in this field. This issue indicates the necessity of retraining courses for dentists about drugs prescribed in dentistry