The Impact of Drug Samples on Clinical Recommendations in Dental Education

The distribution of branded drug samples in an educational setting may obscure the line between an evidence-based and a marketing-based education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of branded drug samples on clinical recommenda- tions in a dental education setting. Survey respondents exposed (n=95) and unexposed (n=80) to a specific branded drug sample program containing non-patented ingredients responded to a brief questionnare on recommendations for dentinal hypersensitivity. The results showed that an exposure to the branded drug sample was associated with twelve-fold increased odds for recommend- ing the brand name (95 percent confidence interval (CI): 5.8-24.5; p