Dentists Prescribe Antibiotics That Are Unnecessary Most of the Time

After reviewing nearly 170,000 dentist-written antibiotic prescriptions from 2011 to 2015, researchers concluded that 81% of scripts were unnecessary as the patients did not have a cardiac condition that warranted an antibiotic prescription as recommended by current medical guidelines. The Illinois-Chicago College of Dentistry’s Dr. Susan Rowan notes, “Dental providers are very thoughtful when they develop care plans for their patients and there are many factors that inform dentists’ recommendations, but this study shows that there is an opportunity for dentists to reevaluate if necessary.” JAMA Network Open, May 2019