Increased antibiotics use

V. Wordley, S. Shah, W. Thompson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

Sir, pre-COVID, dentists were responsible for about 10% of all antibiotic prescribing worldwide.1 At the onset of the pandemic most dental practices were restricted to giving advice, analgesia and antibiotics (AAA). Reduced access to dental care and an inability for dentists to provide dental procedures increases dental antibiotic prescribing.2 A large increase in dental antibiotic use in England during April and May 2020 was widely anticipated and so we undertook a rapid analysis comparing antibiotic use across NHS dentistry in England in 2018 and 2019.

The number of antibiotics dispensed each month by community pharmacists in England relating to NHS dental prescription forms from January 2018 to May 2020 is given in Figure 1.3 This shows antibiotic use in May 2020 was a clear outlier compared to the previous 28 months being 18.4% higher than in May 2019 (n = 267,719 and 226,188 respectively).
Original languageUndefined
JournalBritish Dental Journal
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2020

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