Antibiotic Stewardship

Why is antimicrobial stewardship important for dentists?

Antimicrobial resistance is considered a press­ing international public health problem and is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Antibiotic consumption is recognized as the primary cause of emerging resistance and some of the increase in resistance is directly attributed to the indiscriminate or poor use of anti­biotics.

• Dentists in Canada (and many other countries) prescribe 10% of all antibiotics dispensed to humans – nearly 2.5 million antibiotic prescriptions per year to Canadian dental patients
• While physician prescribing of antibiotics is decreasing as a result of antimicrobial stewardship programs, prescriptions by dentists in one Canadian province for which data is available has increased by an astonishing 62% (reference)
• Conversation Opener: Antibiotics prescribing patterns among health professionals in B.C.
• Antibiotic prescribing by dentists has increased. Why?
• Tell us what you think – what is driving the trend for increased antibiotic prescribing by dentists?

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