. 2019 Apr 19;74(8):2139–2152. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkz152

Table 2.

Characteristics of studies included in the systematic review of factors associated with prescribing of systemic antibiotics to adult patients with acute dental conditions/during urgent primary dental care

Author (lead), year	Objectives	Country	Dental care setting	Clinician characteristics	Patient characteristics (if applicable)	Study type/design	Size of population	Conclusions
Cope, 2016¹³	To describe factors associated with antibiotic prescription in the absence of spreading infection or systemic involvement.	UK	general dental practice	NHS or private general dental practitioners	adults with pulpal, apical or periodontal pathology	quantitative/cross-sectional prospective	42 general dental practitioners/568 cases	Features of the healthcare environment, such as clinical time pressures, and patient-related characteristics, such as expectations for antibiotics and refusal of operative treatment, are associated with antibiotic prescribing in the absence of infection.
Dailey, 2001⁴¹	To investigate the therapeutic prescribng of antibiotics to patients presenting for emergency dental treatment.	UK	OOH dental	NHS dentists	walk-in emergency dental patients	quantitative/cross-sectional prospective	55 dentists/1011 cases	The majority of patients attending the emergency dental clinics had pain, with a large proportion having localized infections either as pulpitis or localized dental abscess.
Kaptan, 2013⁴²	To gather information about Turkish general dental practitioners’ treatment approaches towards endodontic emergencies, antibiotic-prescribing habits, and participation in lifelong learning programmes.	Turkey	general dental practice	general dental practitioners	NA	quantitative/survey	589 analysed/1400 distributed	There have been discrepancies between taught and observed practice. Educational initiatives are needed to prevent inappropriate prescription of antibiotics.
Newlands, 2016⁴³	To understand the barriers to and facilitators of using local measures instead of prescribing antibiotics to manage bacterial infections.	UK	not clear	general dental practitioners	NA	qualitative/semi-structured interviews	30 interviews	Results suggest a number of intervention functions through which future interventions could change general dental practitioners’ antibiotic prescribing for bacterial infections, including through training, modelling or incentivization.
Palmer, 2000⁴⁴	To study the therapeutic prescribing of antibiotics by general dental practitioners.	UK	general dental practice	general dental practitioners	patients with an acute dental infection	quantitative/survey	891 analysed/1546 distributed	Therapeutic prescribing of antibiotics in general dental practice varies widely and is suboptimal. Practitioners were generally not influenced by patient’s expectations of receiving antibiotics, but would prescribe when under pressure of time, if they were unable to make a definitive diagnosis, or if treatment had to be delayed.
Tulip, 2008¹⁴	To investigate the clinical management of patients attending for emergency dental treatment.	UK	OOH dental	general dental practitioners	patients with an acute dental condition	quantitative/retrospective data analysis	1167 patient records	General dental practitioners working within the OOH services are not adhering to current clinical and best practice guidelines with respect to patient examination, diagnosis, management, and in particular the correct prescribing of antibiotics for dental infections.
Vessal, 2011⁴⁵	To evaluate the knowledge and practices of dentists in Shiraz, Iran regarding their use of antibiotics for patients with dentoalveolar infections.	Iran	not clear	dental practitioners	NA	quantitative/ survey	219 analysed/450 distributed	Guidelines on rational antibiotic use are needed for dental practitioners in the Islamic Republic of Iran.