A multi-region cross-sectional survey of 1,150 Indian dental providers has identified a measurable discrepancy between clinicians’ knowledge of geriatric pharmacotherapy and their self-reported prescribing practices. Across the surveyed cohort, participating practitioners achieved an originally reported mean knowledge score of 64.0 percent, with a standard deviation of 22.4, whereas their mean self-reported practice score reached 51.6 percent, with a standard deviation of 19.2. This evaluation established an average difference of 12.4 percentage points between knowledge and self-reported practice scores, bounded by a 95 percent confidence interval extending from 11.4 to 13.4 percentage points.
The research context stems from ongoing population ageing, which has substantially heightened the overall clinical complexity of dental prescribing. Older adult populations frequently present with multimorbidity and polypharmacy, which occur alongside normal age-related physiological changes that increase individual susceptibility to adverse drug events. Although prior studies have documented specific knowledge deficits in geriatric pharmacotherapy among practicing dentists, researchers noted that whether existing pharmacological knowledge translates into actual self-reported prescribing behavior has remained poorly understood.
To evaluate this potential implementation gap, the investigators structured the study to quantify the precise discrepancy between clinical knowledge and self-reported prescribing behavior within geriatric dental pharmacotherapy. The survey was also designed to describe the underlying demographic and professional characteristics associated with wider differences between knowledge and practice scores among dental professionals across multiple regions in India.
Subgroup analyses within the survey sample indicated that professional experience plays a notable role in the magnitude of the observed score divergence. Specifically, the reported score differences separating knowledge and self-reported practice were wider among dental trainees than among established clinicians who possessed more than 5 years of professional clinical experience.
In addition to knowledge testing, the cross-sectional investigation examined how practitioners’ attitudes related to their clinical choices. The survey demonstrated that attitude scores had a numerically stronger cross-sectional correlation with self-reported practice scores, yielding a Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.51, than knowledge scores did, which showed a Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.29. The study authors explicitly reported that the numerical difference between these two correlation coefficients was not formally subjected to statistical significance testing.
The investigators concluded by outlining critical methodological constraints that govern the interpretation of these survey outcomes. The authors emphasized that the score difference captured by the questionnaire is not a validated measure of actual implementation failure or audited prescribing quality, as practitioner responses were entirely self-reported rather than derived from direct clinical chart reviews or prescribing audits. Furthermore, the cross-sectional associations observed between practice scores, clinician attitudes, and years of experience remain hypothesis-generating, meaning the study design cannot establish that interventions aimed at altering knowledge, shaping attitudes, or accumulating clinical experience will causally change prescribing behaviour.
Subject of Research: Geriatric dental prescribing knowledge and self-reported practice among Indian dentists
Article Title: Bridging the knowledge and self-reported practice of geriatric dental prescribing: a multi-region cross-sectional survey of Indian dental providers
Article References: Misra, S. R., Das, R., Mohapatra, S. S. G., Mohanty, N., & Meher, B. (2026). Bridging the knowledge and self-reported practice of geriatric dental prescribing: a multi-region cross-sectional survey of Indian dental providers. BMC Geriatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-026-08657-3
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s12877-026-08657-3
Keywords: geriatric dentistry, dental prescribing, pharmacotherapy, cross-sectional study, prescribing practices, clinical education, Indian dental providers, polypharmacy, Bridging, knowledge, self-reported, practice
News Source: Beatrice Stafford. (November 6, 2026). Survey Finds Gap Between Geriatric Prescribing Knowledge and Practice in Indian Dentists. Scienmag.
