FDI World Dental Federation: Prescribing of dental antibiotics up 22% in England during first year of COVID-19
PR93099
GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --
Prescriptions of all other antibiotics fell during the same period
GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- After years of consecutive
decline, the rate of dental antibiotic prescribing increased by over a fifth in
2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Dentistry was the only part of England's
publicly-funded National Health Service to experience an increase. The steepest
rise occurred when dental practices were closed from March to June 2020 during
the first wave of COVID-19, and it has been slow to decline since. The data has
been released by the UK government (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report) today ahead of the World Health Organization´s World Antimicrobial Awareness
(AMR) Week
(https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-antimicrobial-awareness-week/2021 ).
"The COVID-19 pandemic has been unforgiving," said Wendy Thompson, a member of
FDI World Dental Federation´s AMR Working Group.
"But using antibiotics to make up for a lack of access to urgent dental care is
a risk to patient safety and should be avoided wherever possible. We need to
start treating patients with acute dental pain or infection, not medicating
them."
Even in Spring 2021, four out of five people in England still said they had
difficulties accessing timely care for their dental problems. Healthwatch
England reports that dentistry is the top issue with which it is currently
dealing, feedback from the public being nearly eight times higher than the same
period in 2020.
Antibiotics are usually only administered for severe infections alongside
treatment to drain the infection. Antibiotic-only dental care is rarely in line
with guidance. But the restricted access to face-to-face dental appointments
last year saw the medicines being prescribed when procedures would usually be a
quicker and safer fix.
"Prescribing antibiotics when not necessary is a problem because it drives the
development and spread of infections that are resistant to antibiotics," said
Thompson.
Within the next 30 years, more people will die from resistant infections than
will die from cancer, unless action is taken now. The WHO predicts that
antimicrobial resistance will be the world´s biggest killer by 2050
(https://www.who.int/health-topics/antimicrobial-resistance ).
"We need to make a clear and public commitment to tackling antibiotic
resistance (https://www.fdiworlddental.org/antibiotic-resistance-needs-tackling-immediately-across-dentistry) and communicate to the general public what appropriate antibiotic use in
dentistry is all about and how it impacts them," said Professor Ihsane Ben
Yahya, President of FDI World Dental Federation and Dean of the Dental Faculty
at the Medicine University Mohammed VI of Health Science in Casablanca, Morocco.
"And just as importantly, we need to advocate for dentistry to be included
within national action plans on antibiotic resistance. And that means
developing evidence-based guidelines where they don't already exist on dental
antibiotic use as well as engaging with audits of dental antibiotic use."
Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com)
Further Information:
Michael Kessler
FDI Media Relations
Mob: + 34 655 792 699
Email: michael.kessler@intoon-media.com
Twitter: @mickessler
About FDI World Dental Federation (https://www.fdiworlddental.org/ ): FDI is
the main representative body for more than one million dentists worldwide, with
a vision of leading the world to optimal oral health. Its membership comprises
some 200 national member associations and specialist groups in over 130
countries.
SOURCE FDI World Dental Federation
本プレスリリースは発表元が入力した原稿をそのまま掲載しております。また、プレスリリースへのお問い合わせは発表元に直接お願いいたします。
このプレスリリースには、報道機関向けの情報があります。
プレス会員登録を行うと、広報担当者の連絡先や、イベント・記者会見の情報など、報道機関だけに公開する情報が閲覧できるようになります。