KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF DENTAL STUDENTS TOWARD DENTAL MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS ON ANTIPLATELET THERAPY

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of dental students toward dental management of patients on antiplatelet therapy.Methods: A self-administered questionnaire of 17 questions was administered to 150 students, belonging to third, final year and internship traineeof undergraduate dental program. The questionnaire was designed to collect the data regarding the knowledge of dental students about antiplateletdrugs, their attitude and practices when treating patients on antiplatelet therapy. The data from the participants were collected, statistically analyzed,and results were obtained.Results: About 80.8% of students have stated that minor surgical procedures cannot be carried out safely, without stopping the antiplatelet medication.46.7% of students have mentioned that local hemostatic measures can control bleeding in a patient on antiplatelet therapy during dental treatment.70% of them preferred to refer the patient to physician/cardiologist while treating patients on antiplatelet medications. 78.3% were not aware of theUK medicines information regarding surgical management of the primary care dental patient on antiplatelet medication. 70% of dental students havethought that evidence-based guidelines will be helpful in the dental management of patients on antiplatelet therapy.Conclusion: Educational programs or workshops related to the subject can increase the awareness of students to update their knowledge and practicerelated to managing patients on antiplatelet therapy before dental treatment. The findings from this study suggest that there is a great need to educatedental students to use evidence-based guidelines in terms of dental treatment for patients on antiplatelet therapy.Keywords: Antiplatelet therapy, Survey, Bleeding, Aspirin, Dental extraction