Self-medication, self-assessment and knowledge of dental medicine students about analgesics.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the rate of self-medication among dental students and any differences and/or associations between self-medication, self-assessment and knowledge among students in later years of the same study.

Material and methods: The study was conducted between April and July 2020 at the School of Dental medicine, University of Zagreb. All students were given access to an online survey to learn more about their self-medication habits, pharmacological knowledge and analgesic self-assessment. The experimental research group consisted of 120 third- to sixth-year students (n = 120), while the control group consisted of 30 first- and second-year students who had not taken any pharmacology courses.

Results: Even 110 students (91.67%) reported self-medication, with ibuprofen being the most prevalent analgesic (70%). Fifth-year students showed a statistically significant difference in all knowledge-related questions compared to third- and fourth-year students (p=0.0015 and p=0.002, respectively). In addition, in the self-assessment statements across all study years, a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was also noticed. The feeling of willingness to prescribe analgesics behaved according to the increasing pattern over the years of study.

Conclusions: A statistically significant difference in self-medication, self-assessment and knowledge among dental students over the years, with the alarmingly high prevalence of self-medication among them, was observed. Because effective dental practice requires a thorough knowledge of pharmaceuticals, it is vital to continually expand and refine students' understanding of the use of analgesics in dentistry throughout their undergraduate studies. Key words:Analgesics, Self Medication, Self-Assessment, Knowledge, Dentistry, Students.