Awareness About Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw Among Dental Professionals: A Multicentre Study

Bisphosphonates and non-bisphosphonate antiangiogenic and antiresorptive agents are widely used in the management of bone diseases and cancer. A subset of patients receiving these drugs can manifest with medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) and it is one of the major complications faced in dental practice. Dentoalveolar and periodontal surgery are the major risk factors associated with it. Therefore, a dentist must have adequate knowledge to promptly identify patients at risk and efficiently manage the condition. This multicentre study was designed with an aim to assess the level of knowledge and awareness regarding MRONJ among dentists from six dental schools.

An online self-administered questionnaire was sent to all the dentists from six dental schools through Google forms. The results obtained were statistically analysed. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed to check for normality of data, while the Mann-Whitney U-test and chi-square test were used to compare the responses to each question.

The questionnaire was sent to 570 dentists, out of which 234 responses were obtained. The majority of participants were aware of the term 'MRONJ' (83.3%), clinical indications of bisphosphonates (61.5%) and its mechanism of action (72.2%). However, 68.4% and 61.5% of dentists had no knowledge about the 'drug holiday' concept and risk factors associated with MRONJ, respectively.

Although most of the participants had knowledge regarding certain aspects of MRONJ, such as mechanism of action and clinical indications of bisphosphonates, there was a lack of awareness about the drug holiday concept and drug-associated risk factors. This emphasises the need to spread awareness among the dental community, not only in tertiary healthcare centres, but also among private dentists and dental interns to prevent cases of MRONJ.