Introduction

“Antibiotic resistance” is of main concern in global health; that it could hinder the achievement of sustainable development goals. One of the reported contributing factors is the irrational prescribing behavior of healthcare professionals including dentists. Efforts to design and evaluate effective educational programs for undergraduate dental students about appropriate prescribing behavior during their early educational years could mitigate the risk of antibiotic resistance.

Materials and methods

A total of 322 students participated in the study. Their knowledge of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance was assessed. Students received a specially designed, interactive educational program. The success of the program was assessed after the educational sessions and two years later using Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model.

Results

The present study is the first study to use Kirkpatrick model to evaluate an educational program for dental students. The results of the first level of evaluation showed an overall satisfaction score of 82.1%. The second level revealed an increase in the percentage of correct answers after the educational sessions from 68.3% to 80%, and significant agreement with responsible antibiotics usage (P-value = 0.020, Effect size = 0.121). The third level showed that the percentage of correct answers two years later was 87.5%. The fourth level confirmed the success of the program as 88.9% of participants reported using the knowledge gained from the program when prescribing antibiotics.

Conclusions

Our study emphasizes the success of the used educational program and highlights the need for educational interventions in the under graduate dental curriculum.