Thornhill, M.H. orcid.org/0000-0003-0681-4083, Dayer, M.J., Durkin, M.J. et al. (2 more authors) (2019) Oral antibiotic prescribing by NHS dentists in England 2010-2017. British Dental Journal, 227 (12). pp. 1044-1050. ISSN 0007-0610
Abstract
Introduction Dentists prescribe a significant proportion of all antibiotics, while antimicrobial stewardship aims to minimise antibiotic-prescribing to reduce the risk of developing antibiotic-resistance and adverse drug reactions.
Aims To evaluate NHS antibiotic-prescribing practices of dentists in England between 2010-2017.
Methods NHS Digital 2010-2017 data for England were analysed to quantify dental and general primary-care oral antibiotic prescribing.
Results Dental prescribing accounted for 10.8% of all oral antibiotic prescribing, 18.4% of amoxicillin and 57.0% of metronidazole prescribing in primary care. Amoxicillin accounted for 64.8% of all oral antibiotic prescribing by dentists, followed by metronidazole (28.0%), erythromycin (4.4%), phenoxymethylpenicillin (0.9%), clindamycin (0.6%), co-amoxiclav (0.5%), cephalosporins (0.4%) and tetracyclines (0.3%). Prescriptions by dentists declined during the study period for all antibiotics except for co-amoxiclav. This increase is of concern given the need to restrict co-amoxiclav use to infections where there is no alternative. Dental prescribing of clindamycin, which accounted for 43.9% of primary care prescribing in 2010, accounted for only 14.6% in 2017. Overall oral antibiotic prescribing by dentists fell 24.4% as compared to 14.8% in all of primary care.
Conclusions These data suggest dentists have reduced antibiotic prescribing, possibly more than in other areas of primary-care. Nonetheless, opportunities remain for further reduction.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to British Dental Association. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in British Dental Journal. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Dental; antibiotic; prescribing practices; antimicrobial stewardship; primary care; oral |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Clinical Dentistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2019 09:06 |
Last Modified: | 20 Jun 2020 00:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Nature |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41415-019-1002-3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148152 |