RT - Journal TY - JOUR A1 - Kalyan, Venumbaka A1 - Sudhakar, K A1 - Srinivas, P A1 - Sudhakar, GVS A1 - Pratap, KVNR A1 - Padma, T T1 - Evaluation of self-medication practices among undergraduate dental students of tertiary care teaching dental hospital in South India YR - 2013/1/1 JF - Journal of Education and Ethics in Dentistry JO - J Educ Ethics Dent SP - 21 OP - 25 VO - 3 IS - 1 UL - https://www.jeed.in/article.asp?issn=0974-7761;year=2013;volume=3;issue=1;spage=21;epage=25;aulast=Kalyan;t=5 DO - 10.4103/0974-7761.126939 N2 - Background: The practice of self-medication may lead to lack of clinical evaluation by a trained medical professional and delay in effective therapy. It is known that even the students of health-care sciences indulge in it. The present study is aimed at assessing the attitude and behavior of dental students toward self-medication. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted in a private dental teaching hospital in South India. The undergraduate dental students from first year to final year who gave consent were included in the study. Information regarding the reason for self-medication, condition for which they self-medicated, type of drugs used, awareness about the drugs used and their source of information was collected. Data was summarized as the number and percentage. Chi-square test was used to test the significance and P < 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: The prevalence of self-medication is 62.5%. Headache and mouth ulcers were the most common indications of self-medication. The most commonly used drugs were analgesics, antibiotics and antipyretics. Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that the majority of the students self-medicate. As these students are future dental practitioners, self-medication as a regular practice by them should be curbed as their behavior may indirectly influence their patient's health. ER -