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 sensitivity antibiotic sensitivity testing offered as one combined service. This is because the clinician needs to know which organism is causing the infection, and which drugs will specifically work against this strain. Jump up ^ http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/bugdrug/antibiotic_manual/bk.html Jump up ^ http://www.slideshare.net/doctorrao/antibiotic-sensitivity-testing-presentation Jump up ^ http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/11/1749.full Jump up ^ http://www.microrao.com/micronotes/antibiotic.pdf Antibiotic sensitivity Antibiotic sensitivity or antibiotic susceptibility is the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics. Because susceptibility can vary even within a species (with some strains being more resistant than others), antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) is usually carried out to determine which antibiotic will be most successful in treating a bacterial infection in vivo.