As new statistics reveal a fall in prescribing of antibiotics by clinicians across all NHS healthcare settings, dentists' leaders have called on colleagues to build on this success by using a new toolkit to support effective antimicrobial stewardship.
The toolkit, which includes an easy self-audit tool and patient-facing posters and leaflets, was developed as a collaboration between the Faculty of General Dental Practice UK (FGDP [UK]), the British Dental Association (BDA) and Public Health England (PHE), and builds on pioneering work from NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Local Dental Network.
With the number of people dying annually from antibiotic-resistant infections predicted to rise to 10 million by 2050, resistance to antibiotics represents one of the biggest threats to global health. Dentists issue around 9% of all antibiotic prescriptions in NHS primary care, and 5% of the NHS total, and since 2015, healthcare providers have had a statutory duty to ensure appropriate antimicrobial use to reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance.
However, the latest report from PHE's English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) shows that despite progress on prescribing, antibiotic resistance in the UK is still on the rise.
The free toolkit is now available to download from both the FGDP and BDA websites:
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New toolkit lets dentists build on antibiotic prescribing success. Br Dent J 222, 7 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.12
