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

ment is considered to be present in this case, antibiotics are of the number of prescriptions of these drugs by regulatory
indicated in conjunction with debridement of the root canal bodies and measures to encourage the development of further
12
space and an incision and drainage procedure. An exception studies aiming at evaluating antibiotic prescription patterns
27
to this trend was found in the study by Jayadev et al., in which in other national cities.
only 56% of the participants prescribed antibiotics in this case.
In cases of retreatment, according to the literature, it would
only be necessary to prescribe antibiotics to treat signs and Ethical disclosures
symptoms in rare situations, where the procedures of
chemical -mechanical preparation and eventual intracanal Protection of human and animal subjects. The authors
medication are not sufficient to eliminate the infectious declare that the procedures followed were in accordance with
agent 6,14,30 or in cases of immunocompromised patients. 6,11,14,30 the regulations of the relevant clinical research ethics com-
The treatment of persistent pathologies should be done pri- mittee and with those of the Code of Ethics of the World Med-
marily by reviewing odontometry, recapitulating the chemical- ical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).
-mechanical preparation and using eventual intracanal med-
ication with antimicrobial activity. 6,11 In our study, 9.5% of the Confidentiality of data. The authors declare that they have
respondents prescribed antibiotics in this situation. However, followed the protocols of their work center on the publication
31
a recent study reported a percentage of 42% of antibiotic pre- of patient data.
scriptions in the same situation.
It is important that not only the dental profession but also Right to privacy and informed consent. The authors have
the general public understand the importance of restricting obtained the written informed consent of the patients or sub-
the use of antibiotics to those cases of true severe infection jects mentioned in the article. The corresponding author is in
that require them. The use of antibiotics for minor infections, possession of this document.
32
or, in some cases, in patients without infections, could be a
major contributor to the world problem of antimicrobial resis-
tance. 10,12 Conflict of interest
Some limitations need to be acknowledged. The reader
should take into account the small sample size of our study The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
and the possible cultural differences regarding the prescrip-
tion of antibiotics. This study was carried out only in a specif-
ic city of Portugal, thus limiting the generalizability of our Acknowledgment
findings to other regions of Portugal or the entire country. All
data were collected from a self -administered questionnaire, The authors thanks Prof. Doutora Fiomena Capucho for her
which relied on memory and self -reporting by the clinicians.
We have used a cross -sectional design, which means that the kind collaboration in reviewing this paper.
results do not clarify the process and pathways leading to the
choice of a specific antibiotic, or its frequency. Future qualita-
tive and quantitative studies are clearly needed to identify the references
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