Dental Stewardship
Our multi-stakeholder group aims to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics in dental infections and support appropriate choice and duration of treatment.
We have agreed some initial objectives to support optimisation of prescribing in dental settings.
Following an extensive period of research and consultation the SAPG committee and SAPG Dental sub-group members have approved the following guidance to promote the use of penicillin V in preference to amoxicillin for acute dental infections. This aligns with other SAPG work to use narrow spectrum agents wherever possible as a key action to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
A systematic review on the use of metronidazole in the treatment of non-periodontal dental infections in general dental practice. Findings showed that it does not provide superior clinical outcomes (alone or in combination with a β-lactam) when compared with a β-lactam antibiotic alone.
A free e-learning course on Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance for dentists and others interested in antibiotic use in dentistry is available on the Futurelearn site. The course is supported by the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy & FDI World Dental Federation and led by Dr Wendy Thompson. It involves 1 hour of study per week for 3 weeks and full details are available here
Congratulations to Ruby Simpson the dental student with the winning design from the recent Glasgow Dental Hospital + School Antibiotic Guardian poster competition.
This poster is now available to download and use to promote the message ‘Antibiotics don’t cure toothache’
