ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The study of the prescription pattern of antibacterial and analgesic/antiinflammatory systemic medication by dentists. METHODS: Observational study based in questionnaires answered by a representative, randomly selected sample of 163 general dentists from the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Southeastern Brazil. Some of the topics verified were: the most frequently prescribed drugs in the fortnight prior to the study, the use of generic names of drugs in the prescriptions, attendance at refresher courses on pharmacology, self-assessment of degree of knowledge on pharmacology, the importance given to this subject in the dentist's professional career, and the filling out of the clinical chart and the registration of the drugs prescribed on it. RESULTS: It was observed that the drugs were usually prescribed by their commercial name. There were a trend to prescribe more antiinflamatory than analgesics drugs. A small, but worrying, 13% of dentists didnot fill out the clinical chart for all the patients and 43% of the sample didnot register the drugs prescribed on it. The courses on pharmacology seemed to produce no significant alteration in self valuation as to the degree of knowledge in pharmacology and the use of the generic names of drugs.