Prevalence of Self Medication Practice among Dental Undergraduates in a Dental college

Abstract

Introduction: Self-medication practice among future prescribers can cause a serious threat to the
health care profession. There has been an increasing trend among medical and dental students for
self-medication. The objective of our study was to find the prevalence and practice of self-medication
among dental undergraduates in Kantipur Dental College and Teaching Hospital.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all the dental undergraduate
students of Kantipur Dental College, Kathmandu, from July to September 2018. Ethical clearance
was obtained from the institutional review board. A convenience sampling method was used. A prevalidated questionnaire was handed to the students in their classroom to collect the data. The data
were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 and Microsoft Excel 2010
and presented as frequency and percentage.

Results: The prevalence of self-medication among dental undergraduates was found to be in 150
(83.3%) out of a total of 180 students who participated in the study.

Conclusions: Self-medication was commonly practiced by dental students. Self-medication should
be considered as a serious threat, especially among the students with inadequate knowledge of drug,
dose, and duration of treatment.