{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T05:07:57Z","timestamp":1772168877434,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,25]],"date-time":"2025-07-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1753401600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["f1000research.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["F1000Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>Background Anesthesia and sedation services for dental outpatients are commonly indicated for the management of fear, anxiety, and phobia, usually with children and patients with some medical conditions. To date, there has been no information on the prevalence of oral sedatives (Benzodiazepines, OBZ) used for dental patients in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of oral sedatives used for dental patients in the Eastern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods An electronic survey (though Google forms) was sent to the practitioners in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia via e-mail\/social media. The calculated representative sample size required for the study was 327. All participants were registered with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS). The questionnaire consisted of 28 questions, which included demographics and oral benzodiazepine prescription patterns. Data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS (Version 23.0) software. Results The completed response was received from 378 dentists who participated in the study. We found that 6.9% (n=26) had prescribed oral benzodiazepines to adult patients for anxiety management (as oral pre-medication or conscious sedation). Specialty dentists\/trainees, private sector dentists, and non-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), foreign trained\/qualified dentists had prescribed more OBZs. A statistically significant association was found between barriers to prescribing for managing anxious patients and the type of dentist (p&lt;.05). Conclusion This cross-sectional study concluded that the prevalence of prescribing OBZ in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia is low. The most important barriers identified were the lack of training and formal qualifications.<\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.165185.1","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,25]],"date-time":"2025-07-25T14:45:07Z","timestamp":1753454707000},"page":"732","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Prevalence of benzodiazepines prescription in the dental office across the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Mohammed","family":"E. Alabbad","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2187-356X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ashwin","family":"C. Shetty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6033-0501","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Subraya","family":"G. Bhat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1652-5325","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Faisal","family":"E. Aljofi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Khalid","family":"Almas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"502-513","DOI":"10.14219\/jada.archive.2006.0223","article-title":"Balancing efficacy and safety in the use of oral sedation in dental outpatients.","volume":"137","author":"R Dionne","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Am. Dent. Assoc."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100-104","DOI":"10.4103\/jispcd.JISPCD_19_17","article-title":"Prevalence of Dental Anxiety among Dental Patients in Saudi Arabia.","volume":"7","author":"M Fayad","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Int. Soc. Prev. 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