ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oral Health
Sec. Oral Health Promotion
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1638336
This article is part of the Research TopicCoping with Antimicrobial Resistance in the Context of Dental MedicineView all 5 articles
Antibiotic Resistance: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviours Regarding Prescription Among Dental Students: A Cross-sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
Mayar Danadneh1,2
Raghad Saleh1,3Aya Kwaik1Razan Abu Lafi1Amin Yasin1Ghaida Saafeen1Mazen Alwahidi4Wendy Thompson5
Elham Kateeb1*- 1Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine
- 2King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- 3Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Rochester, United States
- 4Al Azhar University - Gaza, Gaza, Palestine
- 5The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
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Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global crisis exacerbated by inappropriate antibiotic use, including in dentistry. This study evaluates the knowledge, attitudes, and prescribing behaviours of Palestinian dental students to identify gaps and inform educational interventions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 4th, 5th, and internship-year dental students from four Palestinian dental schools. A validated online survey assessed knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and prescribing behaviours. Statistical analyses, including chi-square tests and Pearson correlations, examined associations between knowledge, confidence, and prescribing practices.Results: Among 586 participants (38% response rate), 72.2% recognized antibiotic misuse as a resistance driver, yet only 40.3% felt confident in prescribing decisions. Inappropriate prescribing was reported, with 13.3% prescribing antibiotics daily due to diagnostic uncertainty (χ² = 504.414, p = 0.000) and 12.1% due to patient expectations (χ² = 670.491, p = 0.000). Higher perceived knowledge correlated with reduced prescribing frequency (χ² = 82.650, p = 0.000), and confidence in guidelines was positively associated with responsible prescribing (χ² = 79.656, p = 0.000). Access to prescribing guidelines significantly reduced antibiotic misuse (χ² = 106.441, p = 0.000). Interns prescribed antibiotics more frequently than juniors (χ² = 55.618, p = 0.000).Conclusions: Significant gaps in knowledge, confidence, and prescribing behaviours among Palestinian dental students highlight the urgent need for enhanced antibiotic stewardship education. Implementing targeted interventions, standardized guidelines, and improved access to prescribing resources is essential to promote responsible antibiotic use and combat AMR in dentistry.
Keywords: antibiotic resistance, Dental students, Prescribing practices, Palestine, antibiotic stewardship, Education
Received: 02 Jun 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Danadneh, Saleh, Kwaik, Lafi, Yasin, Saafeen, Alwahidi, Thompson and Kateeb. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Elham Kateeb, elhame20@gmail.com
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