Page 17 - SPEMD_58-4

Revista Portuguesa de Estomatologia,
Medicina Dentária e Cirurgia Maxilofacial

rev port estomatol med dent cir maxilofac. 2017;58(4):205-211

Original research

The use of systemic antibiotics in endodontics:
a cross-sectional study

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a
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Miguel Silva , Manuel Paulo , Miguel Cardoso , Miguel Martins , Rita Noites a,b, *
a Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Polo Regional das Beiras – Viseu, Portugal
b CIIS – Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Saúde – Universidade Católica Portuguesa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Objectives: Portugal is one of the European countries with the highest antibiotic consumption
Received 29 April 2016 rate and, consequently, the highest rates of bacterial resistance. Dentistry’s contribution to
Accepted 20 November 2017 that problem can be substantial because dentists prescribe approximately 10% of all com-
Available online 17 January 2018 mon antibiotics. The purpose of this study was to characterize the prescription of systemic
antibiotics for pulpal and periapical pathology in a sample of Portuguese dentists.
Keywords: Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in dentists working in the city of Viseu. A
Antibiotic therapy total of 135 questionnaires were distributed among all dental clinics and dental offices of Viseu.
Antimicrobial resistance Results: The overall response rate was 70% (n = 95). The vast majority of dentists prescribed
Endodontic infections antibiotics for 8 days (78.9%). The most commonly prescribed antibiotic therapy was the
Prescription habits association 875-mg amoxicillin with 125-mg clavulanic acid (82.1%). In cases of sensitivity
Systemic antibiotics to penicillin, the most prescribed antibiotics were 500-mg clarithromycin (34.7%) and 500-mg
azithromycin (33.7%). A considerable percentage of dentists prescribed antibiotics for situa-
tions of irreversible pulpitis, pulp necrosis without systemic involvement, fistula and endo-
dontic retreatment.
Conclusions: A considerable part of the inquired dentists prescribed antibiotics inappropria-
tely for endodontic inflammatory conditions such as pulpitis. This kind of behavior could
contribute to the world problem of antimicrobial resistance. It is important that dentists
understand the importance of restricting the use of antibiotics for cases of severe infection,
when they are truly needed. (Rev Port Estomatol Med Dent Cir Maxilofac. 2017;58(4):205-211)
© 2017 Sociedade Portuguesa de Estomatologia e Medicina Dentária.
Publicado por SPEMD. Este é um artigo Open Access sob uma licença CC BY -NC -ND
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -nc -nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author.
Correio eletrónico: rnoites@gmail.com (Rita Noites).
http://doi.org/10.24873/j.rpemd.2017.12.033
1646-2890/© 2017 Sociedade Portuguesa de Estomatologia e Medicina Dentária. Published by SPEMD.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).