Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent restrictions on dental services have had a significant impact on the provision of dental care in Australia and around the world. Objectives: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on medications prescribed by dentists under the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Methods: Data on the number of dental prescriptions dispensed for all medications listed on the PBS Dental Schedule, from January 2019 to June 2020, were extracted from publicly available data sets. Analysis of prescription trends was performed for 1) total medications, 2) each major medication class, and 3) individual medications. The number of prescriptions dispensed in each month from January 2020 to June 2020 was compared to the same month in 2019 to determine the relative (percentage) change, and z statistics were used to determine whether changes were statistically significant. Results: There was a significant decrease in dental prescriptions in April 2020 compared to April 2019 (14,785, 18%; P < 0.05). Decreases in prescriptions for antibiotics (10,512, 16%; P < 0.05) and opioid analgesics (3,129, 18%; P < 0.05) were smaller compared to other major medication classes. There was a significant increase in June 2020, compared with June 2019, for prescriptions of amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (4,903, 20%; P < 0.05), tramadol (89, 46%; P < 0.05), and oxycodone (381, 73%; P < 0.05). Conclusion: Dental service restrictions during COVID-19 likely drove an unmet need for routine dental treatment, which had significant implications for public oral health following easing of restrictions. During the initial surge and subsequent lockdown, antibiotics and opioid analgesics may have been used an as alternative to routine operative treatment. Continued professional guidance is required to ensure dental prescribing remains evidence based during the pandemic period. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions on dental practice have had a profound impact on the provision of dental care in Australia and elsewhere in the world. In this context, population-level medication surveillance is important to identify and respond to changes in prescribing patterns that have arisen due to COVID-19 and restrictions on the provision of dental care. This research is particularly important for governments, regulators, and professional associations to ensure therapeutic guidelines and recommendations during the pandemic period remain relevant and evidence based.

A large volume of literature has become available to practitioners prescribing anticoagulants. The aim of this study was to analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the top 100 most cited articles related to anticoagulation over the past 25 years, with special consideration to impact of direct or "nonvitamin K antagonist" oral anticoagulants (NOACs) compared with vitamin K antagonists. A bibliometric analysis of the 100 most cited journal articles related to anticoagulants published between 1994 and 2019 was performed in April 2019. The top 100 articles by citation count were analyzed to extract bibliometric data related to journal title, impact factor, year of publication, place of publication, anticoagulant studied, indication for anticoagulation, study design, and conflicts of interest. The median (interquartile range) number of citations per article was 806 (621-1,085). The anticoagulant most frequently researched was warfarin (37%). NOAC publications (21%) grew at a relative rate of 3.4 times faster compared with all publications. The indication most commonly researched was venous thromboembolism (26%). Eighty articles constituted level I or II evidence, with randomized controlled trials the most common type of study (74). A financial conflict of interest was declared in 87% of articles with private, for-profit organizations the most common source of funding (26%). In summary, top research related to anticoagulation is highly impactful but may be at risk of sponsorship bias. High-level evidence for NOACs continues to expand across a range of indications with citation metrics likely to soon approach or surpass that of older drugs.