Antibiotic resistance is recognized as a global threat and the misuse of antibiotics in dentistry partly contributes to it.
As the general public, we often concern about the antibiotic prescription by a physician. But are we even aware of the magnitude of antibiotic usage in dentistry?
One should always finish the prescribed course of antibiotics! How true is this cardinal rule? It became a debatable topic lately as many news articles are coming up with contrasting standpoints. This could create ambiguity in people’s minds as their doctor advises them to always finish the prescribed course of antibiotics.
Antibiotics is been naturally produced by bacteria and fungi for millions of years as secondary metabolites at a concentration much lower than the therapeutic dose.?But why the microbes are producing antibiotics if it is meant to destroy them? And what are antibiotics used for, by the microbes that produce them???
The only reason for antibiotic resistance is the ?antibiotics? itself. Antibiotics stood in the way of bacteria?s survival and like any other organism, bacteria responded by evolving for its survival, becoming resistant to antibiotics. However, there are 6 major human-driven factors exerting selective pressure on the bacteria to become antibiotic-resistant.