Antibiotic use in dentistry Antibiotic use in dentistry There are many circumstances during dental treatment where antibiotics are prescribed by dentists to prevent further infection (e.g. post-operative infection). The most common antibiotic prescribed by dental practitioners is penicillin in the form of amoxicillin, however many patients are hypersensitive to this particular antibiotic. Therefore, in the cases of allergies, erythromycin is used instead. Bacteraemia is a condition in which bacteria are present in the blood and may cause disease, including systemic disease such as infective endocarditis. Some dental treatments may cause bacteraemia, such as tooth extractions, subgingival scaling or even simple aggressive tooth brushing by
Antibiotic gastric juices and hydrogen peroxide). It also excluded synthetic antibacterial compounds such as the sulfonamides. In current usage, the term "antibiotic" is applied to any medication that kills bacteria or inhibits their growth, regardless of whether that medication is produced by a microorganism or not. The term "antibiotic" derives from "anti" + βιωτικός ("biōtikos"), "fit for life, lively", which comes from βίωσις ("biōsis"), "way of life", and that from βίος ("bios"), "life". The term "antibacterial" derives from Greek ἀντί ("anti"), "against" + βακτήριον ("baktērion"), diminutive of βακτηρία ("baktēria"), "staff, cane", because the first bacteria to be discovered were rod-shaped. The