Analysis of drug interactions in dental prescriptions.

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the potential drug interactions (DI) in prescriptions for patients of a private university’s dental clinic. Material and Methods: this is an exploratory descriptive study. A total of 204 dental prescriptions were analyzed between April 2015 and October 2016. The databases for the analysis of DI potential wereaccessed through the programs Medscape, Drugs.com and Micromedex.The DIs were classified by intensity in major, moderate and minor. Results: the mean age was 43 ± 14 years old and 61% of the participants were female. Hypertension and Type II diabetes were the most prevalent diseases. 237 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were prescribed, with nimesulide being the most prevalent in the prescriptions, followed by dipyrone with analgesic and antipyretic effect. Of these, eighty-nine were antimicrobials, mostly amoxicillin. We identified 95 potential drug interactions, 28% being of major intensity and 67% of moderate intensity. Twelve interactions involved non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, mainly ketoprofen, diclofenac and ibuprofen; and nine were related to the antimicrobials amoxicillin, metronizadol and azithromycin. Conclusion: The need for a careful analysis of dental prescriptions and a review of the concomitant therapy used by patients, reducing the risk of interactions, and consequently, preventing adverse reactions and preserving the patients’ safety, are observed.