Knowledge and attitudes of French dentists on bone resorption inhibitors (bisphosphonates and denosumab): A cross-sectional study

Introduction: A cross-sectional study by questionnaire was performed to evaluate the knowledge of French dentists about bone resorption inhibitors (BRIs) and medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ).

Materials and methods: 498 digital questionnaires were collected and 358 complete responses of French dental practionners in active practice except for orthodontists were analyzed. Descriptive analysis was computed and categorical variables were compared by Z test. The independence of the compared variables was tested by χ2 test. The scores obtained to the knowledge questions were compared by Mann-Whitney's tests depending on age, gender and year of graduation.

Results: 84% of the respondents routinely record antiresorptive medication history in the medical chart. Therefore, almost all the practitioners know the importance to report in anamnesis the use of BRIs, but we noticed some contradictions: Less than half of the respondents recognized the brand names of BRIs and their indications. The combination of BRIs with other drugs like antiangiogenic or corticosteroid therapies is identified as a MRONJ systemic risk factor by respectively 46,3% and 29,7% of the respondents. Likewise, only 43,2% of the practitioners identified removable dentures as a local risk factor. We showed that practitioners under 30 years old and/or who graduated for less than 10 years reached a significantly higher score putting university as the main source of information on that subject.

Conclusion: According to our results, it is evident that there is a lack of knowledge about BRI, the risk of MRONJ, and the methods and means of preventing this complication.