Judicious use of antibiotics in dentistry, Dr Tayyab Saeed Akhtar

Dr Tayyab Saeed Akhtar, the registrar of medical unit 2 Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi Pakistan, delivered a comprehensive lecture on “Judicious use of antibiotics in dentistry” at Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry Rawalpindi.

Dr Tayyab Saeed Akhtar, who is also a member of the editorial board of medicotips.com comprehensively explained to his audience, the meaning of the term “judicious use of antibiotics” and also “why is this judicious of antibiotics important?”. He started his speech from the discovery of antibiotics. In 1929 when the first antibiotic was discovered, it wasn’t widely available. In the beginning, It was only used by the victims of World War II. Later, It became available in the market. Since the discovery and widespread use of antibiotics the life expectancy of human has been increased significantly. For example, the life expectancy of Americans has been increased from 47 years to 78 years now and the major reason of this phenomenal achievement is the ability to control infectious diseases. On September 20th, 1945 a news report was published in “New York Times” in which Sir Alexander Flemming, who was called as “the great benefactor of mankind by the POPE, warned about the inappropriate use of antibiotics. He said that inappropriate use of antibiotics may lead to the selection of mutant strains which may cause more serious infections in the host. Later, even after a year of widespread use of the antibiotic, significant resistant strains of the staphylococcus developed. Therefore, at that time it was realized that there was a need of development of guidelines for the appropriate use of antibiotics.

Judicious use of antibiotics means that antibiotics should be used when it is necessary and recommended. For example, most of the dentist does prescribe an antibiotic for simple toothache or gum bleed although according to the guidelines there is no need for this. Sometimes patients also expect a prescription of antibiotic from the doctor, and he has to prescribe one in order to satisfy his patients. And also over the counter availability of antibiotics has a significant contribution in the development of widespread resistance. Prophylactic use of antibiotics is not necessary for every dental procedure. There are guidelines about the use of antibiotics for prophylaxis purpose, which procedure needs antibiotic prophylaxis and which doesn’t. After the establishment and implementation of guidelines it was seen that only in the United States, the use of antibiotics decreased by 78%. It’s a very significant number.

So After a long debate and step by step explanation, Dr Tayyab concluded his lecture by saying “Judicious use of antibiotics can be made possible by

1. Increasing the awareness of the recommended guidelines among the dental practitioners and
2. by Initiating awareness programs among the general public.”

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