Self Medication Practices for Oral Health Problems among Dental Patients in Bangalore: a Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Self‐ medication is commonly practiced all over the world. Self-medication is defined as the use of medication by a patient on his own initiative or on the advice of a pharmacist or a lay person instead of consulting a medical practitioner. The present study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of self-medication for oral health problems among dental patients in Bengaluru city; to identify triggering factors that could influence self-medication practices; to identify sources of medications used; to identify sources of information about medications used; and to identify reasons for self-medication.Study Design: A Cross sectional Study.Methods:A survey was conducted among 175 subjects among dental patients in Bengaluru city. Data were collected through a specially designed proforma using a closed‐ ended, self‐ administered questionnaire containing 15 questions, in five sections. Results: The prevalence of self-medication was 100% among dental patients. Study showed, 60% of the respondents houses from nearest health care centre/clinic/medical store was >2kms.Among reasons of self‐ medication, minor illness (36.6%) was the most common, with Toothache (52.6%) as the main triggering factor for self medication.Analgesics (48%), Native herb (29.7%) were often used for treating their oral health problems. Majority of the subjects consulted pharmacist (40.6%) for basic treatment and they only approach dentist (84.6%) if the problem persisted. Majority of self‐ medication users for oral health problems had knowledge of checking expiry date of medications while self‐ medicating.Conclusions: High prevalence of selfmedication in our study is a major concern. Analgesics, herbal remedies were often used for treating their oral health problems. The study suggested that there is a necessity for educational programs emphasizing on the risks associated with indiscriminate drug usage in which health care providers, pharmacists and others, including parents, should be actively involved in health education that will help in inculcating the practice of responsible use of drugs amongst the general population.