Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice toward Pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drug Reactions among Practicing Dentists in Maharashtra: A Cross-sectional Survey

Abstract Context: Pharmacovigilance (PV) and adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting are essential components of patient safety and rational drug use. Dentists routinely prescribe medications such as antibiotics and analgesics, making their participation in ADR reporting vital. Despite this, ADRs remain underreported, largely due to gaps in knowledge, attitude, and practice among healthcare professionals. Evaluating the KAP toward PV and ADR reporting among practicing dentists is necessary to identify deficiencies and promote effective pharmacovigilance. This study assesses the KAP of practicing dentists in Maharashtra toward PV and ADR reporting. Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward pharmacovigilance (PV) and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reporting among practicing dentists in Maharashtra. Settings and Design: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted with total 264 practicing dentists in Maharashtra, after receiving the proper Institutional Review Board approval. Subjects and Methods: A prevalidated questionnaire Google Forms comprised three divisions, first division (Q: 1–6) analyzed knowledge domain, second division (Q: 7–9) analyzed attitude, whereas third division (Q: 11–14) analyzed practice domain were distributed to all participants. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The mean age of study participants was 20.35 ± 0.67 involves 69.3% were female participants and 30.7% male. Out of 101 participants, 59.7% had adequate knowledge about PV and 95.8% had better attitude and 65.62% had better practice toward ADR reporting. Conclusions: The above results indicate that the KAP toward PV and ADR reporting among practicing dentists were satisfactory. Thus, the improvement seen shows a positive attitude toward pharmacovigilance and gives confidence that future healthcare professionals can effectively reduce the underreporting of adverse drug reactions.