An evaluation of dental antibiotic prescribing practices in the United States

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Am Dent Assoc
• Personal Author:
  Durkin, Michael J. ; Hsueh, Kevin ; Sallah, Ya Haddy ; Feng, Qianxi ; Jafarzadeh, S. Reza ; Munshi, Kiraat D. ; Lockhart, Peter ; Thornhill, Martin ; Henderson, Rochelle R. ; Fraser, Victoria J.
• Corporate Authors:
  for the CDC Prevention Epicenters
• Description:
  Background
  
  Antibiotic prescribing practices among dentists and dental specialists in the United States (US) remains poorly understood. The purpose of our study is to compare prescribing practices between dental specialties, evaluate the duration of antibiotics prescribed by dentists, and determine variation in antibiotic selection among dentists.
  
  Methods
  
  We performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of dental provider specialties linked to de-identified antibiotic claims data from a large pharmacy benefits manager during the 2015 calendar year.
  
  Results
  
  As a group, general dentists and dental specialists were responsible for over 2.7 million antibiotic prescriptions, higher than several other medical and allied health provider specialties. Antibiotic treatment duration was generally prolonged and commonly included broad-spectrum agents, such as amoxicillin-clavulanate and clindamycin. Although amoxicillin was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic among all dental specialties, there was significant variation among other antibiotics selected by each specialty. The most common antibiotic treatment durations were for 7 and 10 days.
  
  Conclusions
  
  This study demonstrates that dentists frequently prescribe antibiotics for prolonged periods of time and often use broad-spectrum antibiotics. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the appropriateness of these antibiotic prescribing patterns.
  
  Practical Implications
  
  The significant variation in antibiotic selection and treatment duration identified among all dental specialties in this study population implies that further research and guidance into the treatment of dental infections is necessary to improve and standardize antibiotic prescribing practices.
  
  
• Keywords:
  Anti-Bacterial Agents Cross-Sectional Studies Humans Practice Patterns, Dentists' Retrospective Studies United States
• Source:
  J Am Dent Assoc. 148(12):878-886.e1
• Pubmed ID:
  28941554
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5705569
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U54CK000482/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/ ; U54 CK000609/CK/NCEZID CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U54 CK000482/CK/NCEZID CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR002345/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; KL2 TR000450/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; KL2 TR002346/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR000448/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  148
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:c075f2b7a7cb2980ea15e976eb2441be83bb713f46eeffd2dfe2d0ef0ff7c202
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/50410/cdc_50410_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 707.96 KB ]