Use of the Beers criteria to identify potentially inappropriate drug use by community-dwelling older dental patients

Objective. Recognizing drugs with serious adverse experience (AE) potential in an aging population would assist practitioners in preventing drug safety issues. This study identifies drugs with potential for causing serious AEs, describes the AEs, and estimates prevalent use among older adults visiting the dentist. Study Design. Drugs with serious AE risk for older adults were identified with the use of the Beers criteria. Analyses of older adults visiting the dentist using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey tested associations between demographic and health-related variables and use of these drugs. Potentially serious drug-related AEs are described. Results. More than 3 in 10 older adults visiting the dentist were prescribed a Beers-criteria drug. Commonly prescribed Beers-criteria drugs used in dentistry include benzodiazepines and long-acting nonsteroidal antiinflammatory analgesics. Conclusions. Awareness of potentially harmful drug-related AEs, their clinical consequences, and prescribing frequency for older adults will assist dentists in clinically managing patients and avoiding inappropriate prescribing.