The abusive use of drugs in clinical routine of dentistry represents a problem of public health. Studies have demonstrated that the effectiveness of anti-hypertensive drugs was decreased by the simultaneous use of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NAIDs), mainly in elderly patients with primary hypertension. This study was to evaluate the scientific knowledge of the dentists working at the public health service in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil. This research characterized the scientific upgrade of the dentists concerning the prescription of NAIDs to hypertensive patients. The methods included a questionnaire filled up by the 92 dentists of the public health service in São José dos Campos. The results were statistically analyzed by the Wald and Fisher Tests to evaluate the probability of statistical associations between the studied issues (p-value<0.05). The results showed that the professional knowledge for prescription of NAIDs for hypertensive patients was insufficient. The pharmacological interactions between NAIDs and anti-hypertensive drugs were almost totally unknown. The conclusion was that the update courses in dentistry skills do not offer enough knowledge for pharmacological practices in dentistry.
Anti-inflammatory drugs; Scientific knowledge; Pharmacological practices; Hypertension; Dentistry
