Oral Surgery Patients' Perception of the Need for Antibiotics

Objectives: It has been claimed that some of the overprescribing of antibiotics by dentists is due to requests by the patient. The objective of this study was to determine the patients' perception of the need for antibiotics following routine tooth extraction.
Methods: A 6-question survey was administered to 52 patients who were having, or have had, teeth extracted. They were asked if they expected the dentist to prescribe antibiotics, if they would ask for them if not prescribed and the reason why, if they expected the dentist to prescribe antibiotics if they had a dental abscess or if the only had a toothache, and whether they had ever asked their medical doctor for antibiotics to treat a cold.
Results: Fifty-two randomly selected patients (25 males, 28 females: average age - 47 years) completed the questionnaiare. 11 had a college education or higher, 25 had some college, 13 had a high school education and 3 had a grade chool education. 70% expected the dentist to prescribe antibiotics (18 males, 18 females). Of these, 80% would ask for antibiotics if not prescribed.because they believed it would prevent an infection. 87% of the patients expected the dentist to prescribe an antibiotic if they had a dental abscess and 40% if they had a toothache. Only 12% ever asked their physician to prescribe antibiotics for a cold
Conclusions: A high percentage of educated patients in this study expected to receive an antibotic following routine tooth extraction. Since this is not the standard of care, patients need to be informed of the risks of inappropriate antibiotic use..