prevalence of self-medication with analgesics among people referring to outpatient dental clinics in an iranian population

Background: self-medication is a behavior in which a person, without the use of professional advice, resolves his health problem. self-medication is common in the world and considered as a growing public health problem. objectives: the aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of self-medication with analgesics for dental problems over a two-year period among a population in shiraz, iran. patients and methods: this cross-sectional study recruited 1,203 people. they were randomly selected from among men and women older than 12 with a mean age of 36.2 years, attending outpatient health clinics in 10 districts of shiraz. a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data on demographic variables, dental pain, and self-care remedies utilized to combat dental pain. spss version 22 software was used for statistical analysis by the chi-square test and one-way anova. the values of p < 0.05 were considered significant. results: the prevalence of self-medication was 56.1% and the most common reasons for self-medication were having severe pain (35.3%), having prior experience (15.9%), and the high cost of dental visits (13.5%). the most common self-used drugs were ibuprofen (29.42%) and acetaminophen (21.61%). self-medication was not significantly related to variables such as educational level, gender, and marital status and was related to age and salary. conclusions: as found in our study, the high prevalence of self-medication is a major concern. there is a need for health education on indications and risks of self-medication.