Abstract

Orofacial infections of odontogenic origin have long plagued mankind. The discovery of the miracle drug
by fleming in the year 1928 and the routine use of penicillin after the landmark discovery of the powder
form of the antibiotic by florey and chain leading to significant change in the management of odontogenic
infection .The spread of infection is governed by factors such as impaired host defence, the virulence of
microorganism, functional abnormalities of the host and a lack of or delayed treatment. the microbiology
of odontogenic infections in diabetic and non-diabetic individuals has been found to be variable. Though
the effects of diabetes can affect infection severity , length of hospital stay, susceptibility to antibiotics
and outcome of treatment is unassured . Differentiation in antibiotics prescribed is also observed.The aim
of the study was to analyse the prevalence of the use of antibiotics among diabetic and non-diabetic
patients in a south indian dental university clinic . The list of all diabetics and non diabetics patients
treated for pain, dental infections , swelling were retrieved by reviewing 86000 patient records who have
visited the hospital during the study periods from june 2019 to march 2020 from the university
database.Data tabulation was carried out in Excel. The data was imported and transcribed in Statistical
Package for Social sciences version 16(SPSS,IBM corporation). Descriptive analysis was carried out.A
total of 9128 patients were included in the study based on treatment done of which 580 patients(6.3%) had
diabetes mellitus. Only 3.5 % of the male population and 2.8% of the female population has
diabetes.Amoxicillin 93.2% was found to be the most frequently prescribed antibiotics among nondiabetic
patients and diabetics patients 1.6% .A combination of metronidazole and amoxicillin was
prescribed to 0.5% of the whole study population .A combination clavulanic acid and
amoxicillin(augmentin )was prescribed to 4 % of the total diabetic study population and 0.4% of the nondiabetic
study population that is about.The relation between the diabetic status of a patient and the
antibiotic prescribed showed a significant statistical relationship in a Pearson's Chi square test with p value
of 0.001(p<0.005).The prescribing practises in dental offices can be improved by increasing awareness
among dental practitioners about the recommended guidelines for prescribing antibiotics . The most
commonly prescribed antibiotics among diabetic patients was Augmentin (4.08%) and for non diabetics it
was amoxicillin (93.25%). .