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 recommendations 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 recommending the brand name (95 percent confidence interval [CI]: 5.8-24.5; p<0.0001); 2.6-fold increased odds for recommending the therapeutic class to which the branded drug sample belonged (95 percent CI: 1.1-6.0; p=0.02); a 66 percent reduction in odds for considering other therapeutic classes (95 percent CI: 0.18-0.63; p=0.00015); and an 84 percent reduction in considering etiology (95 percent CI: 0.08-0.35; p<0.0001). We conclude that branded drug samples in a dental education setting were associated with increasing brand recommendation, narrowing therapeutic thinking, and decreased consideration for removing causes.