Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate pediatricians' perception about the use of antibiotics and dental caries.
Methods: One hundred pretested questionnaires containing open and closed questions were distributed to pediatricians from public hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Results: The response rate was 60 percent. Considering the respondents, 73.3 percent frequently prescribed antibiotics, oral administration being the chosen mode (93.3%). Antibiotics were pointed out as being very sweet substances by 53.3 percent of the pediatricians. However, the same percentage did not know what sweetener was responsible for the sweet flavor, and just 40.6 percent recommended oral hygiene after the medicine's intake. Among the pediatricians, 56.7 percent related the use of antibiotics to the occurrence of dental effects, and 40 percent thought that antibiotics could cause a defect of tooth structure. Only one pediatrician (3.2%) associated the presence of fermentable carbohydrates in the composition of these medicines with dental caries.
Conclusions: Pediatricians in this study did not perceive the correct relationship between the presence of fermentable carbohydrates in antibiotics and dental caries. Many of them believed these medicines promoted a defect of tooth structure favoring the development of dental caries. Further studies with a larger sample are necessary.