Antibiotic resistance is becoming a problem of modern Western society. Many infections are becoming difficult to treat because some types of antibiotics are becoming ineffective on the human body.
An action plan to reduce the consumption of antibiotics
The World Health Organization is adopting an action plan to control the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance starting first of all from the awareness that the intake of antibiotics must be reduced to cases in which it is strictly necessary.
Dentistry and antibiotic resistance
Toothache is one of the main causes of taking antibiotics. Internationally, dentists prescribe 10% of global antibiotic prescriptions for humans.
There is also the common practice of taking an antibiotic at the first toothache, without even consulting the dentist.
However, research studies carried out in Great Britain and the USA have shown that almost 80% of the antibiotics taken for dental problems are not strictly necessary.
A recent study published in June 2021 in the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice investigated, using the social channels of Facebook and Twitter, the habits of the population and how many took the antibiotic to treat a toothache.
For the analysis, 144 posts written by users that specifically concerned the following topics were considered:
- experience and expectations;
- self-care and professional treatment;
- access to dental care;
- life quality;
- “deal” strategies.
Research findings and causes of antibiotic resistance
An analysis of posts on social networks has shown that taking antibiotics for toothache is a very common practice, indeed it is often the result of a self-diagnosis and antibiotics are used precisely to avoid a dental visit.
Toothache turns out to be a disabling pathology for many people and taking an antibiotic is one of the most immediate and frequent actions, some of the users considered for the analysis said they also used prayer to make the toothache go away.
It was also evident that many users search the names of antibiotics through social media or the internet using the following keyword: “cure toothache”.
The constant and unfounded intake of drugs generates this worrying resistance to antibiotics, but even more dangerous is self-diagnosis which can generate even very serious health complications.
