Dental organisations support World Antibiotic Awareness Week

The Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP(UK)), the British Association of Oral Surgeons (BAOS) and the Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists (ACOM) say that while progress has been made in reducing the number of antibiotic prescriptions in dentistry, more needs to be done to further reduce inappropriate prescribing.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a worldwide problem, with the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to many classes of antibiotics constituting a major threat to public health, as even simple infections may become untreatable. Inappropriate prescribing and misuse of antibiotics contribute to an increasing incidence of multi-drug-resistant infections, causing an estimated 700,000 deaths each year, including 25,000 in Europe. The health care gains for patients undergoing major surgery, and a wide range of critical treatments such as organ and stem cell transplants and chemotherapy, will be lost to the higher risk of mortality, and the UK government predicts the annual global toll could be 10 million by 2050.