dentists and prescriptions

nerrad01

Just wondered is there any restrictions on dentists and prescribing.

Are they limited to a certain number of medications or can they prescribe the same as a doctor?
Are they limited when prescribing controlled medications in terms of some of the stronger pain killers? I assume they are able to prescribe botox etc ?

davo10

Why do you ask?

nerrad01

davo10 wrote: »

Why do you ask?

nothing sinister! i have seen a lot of dentists doing botox, and seen it discussed on here about dentists not providing ppi`s when prescribing NSAIDs.

So was just out of general interest really

davo10

Dentists are qualified Doctors, of a particular part of the body unlike GPs who are general practitioners. Dentists can prescribe a wide scope of medications, but the medicines must be for ailments related to dentistry, we cannot for instance write a prescription for a kidney problem.

Yes Dentists can buy Botox on prescription.

nerrad01

davo10 wrote: »

Dentists are qualified Doctors, of a particular part of the body unlike GPs who are general practitioners. Dentists can prescribe a wide scope of medications, but the medicines must be for ailments related to dentistry, we cannot for instance write a prescription for a kidney problem.

Yes Dentists can buy Botox on prescription.

i see, so no restrictions as long as it can be related to oral health, but legally no actual restrictions i would assume. thanks!

digzy

nerrad01 wrote: »

nothing sinister! i have seen a lot of dentists doing botox, and seen it discussed on here about dentists not providing ppi`s when prescribing NSAIDs.

So was just out of general interest really

What are ppi's?

quadrifoglio verde

davo10 wrote: »

Dentists are qualified Doctors, of a particular part of the body unlike GPs who are general practitioners. Dentists can prescribe a wide scope of medications, but the medicines must be for ailments related to dentistry, we cannot for instance write a prescription for a kidney problem.

Yes Dentists can buy Botox on prescription.

I've seen a dentist prescribe eltroxin and the contraceptive pill on a prescription before :pac:

Legally valid prescription but both were outside the scope of her practice .

quadrifoglio verde

digzy wrote: »

What are ppi's?

Proton Pump inhibitors. They reduce gastric acid

davo10

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

I've seen a dentist prescribe eltroxin and the contraceptive pill on a prescription before :pac:

Legally valid prescription but both were outside the scope of her practice .

Tough to defend that if patient has an adverse reaction.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Generally the course of antiinflamatories is short for dental complaints and does not cause gastric issues. Dental problems are corrected by surgical correction not medication, generally dentists prescribe only for post operative management. PPI are unnecessary.

eltroxin and the contraceptive pill...thats a bit beyond our scope.

Oral Surgeon

https://youtu.be/CQMJolaxmR8

Fishorsealant

I presume they mean PPI and NSAID combination drugs.

Op if you look at the top 10 drugs prescribed by the general dental practitioner you see that the main drug classes are local anaesthetics +\- adrenaline , NSAIDs, anti microbials and anti fungals.

More important than the drugs in particular that a dentist can prescribe is their knowledge of pharmacology and therapeutics related to a larger range of drugs in particular to prevent adverse drug reactions ,drug - drug interactions and to be aware of the oral effects of drugs prescribed by other clinicians.

This is a big deal as patients on warfarin for example can die if given even some TOPICAL azole antifungal agents which a dentist might use to treat a fungal infection.

See this table
http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v216/n1/fig_tab/sj.bdj.2013.1237_T4.html

I would have an in depth knowledge of the drugs that a gdp could prescribe , also knowledge of the drugs it could interact with but not enough to consider prescribing the non dentally relevant drugs.