Frank Halling
University of Marburg, Germany
Biography
Abstract
Introduction: Antibiotics alongside with analgesics and local anaesthetics are the most frequently used drugs in dentistry. Reliably structured figures concerning the actual number of prescriptions of antibiotics by dentists are hardly available.
Materials & Methods: All antibiotic prescriptions of dentists for patients who are members of statutory health insurances in Germany from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2015 were included. The annual reports of the scientific institute of the AOK, the biggest statutory health insurance in Germany, were used as data basis. The types of antibiotics, the number of prescriptions and the prescribed defined daily doses (DDD) were analyzed. The results were compared to antibiotic prescriptions of German physicians and to data of international studies.
Results: During the period of investigation an average of 8.8% per year of all antibiotic prescriptions is issued by dentists. Between 2012 and 2015 the dental share on all antibiotics fell by 12.1% (p<0.05). The most prescribed antibiotic is amoxicillin, the share of which on all dental prescriptions increased from 35.6% in 2012 to 45.8% in 2015 (p<0.01). About three-quarters of all dentally prescribed DDD can be attributed to amoxicillin and clindamycin. On the part of the German physicians and compared to international studies the structure of the prescriptions is much more heterogeneous.
Conclusion: Dental and medical antibiotic prescriptions in Germany show statistically significant differences regarding the types and the shares of the prescribed antibiotics. In the context of international studies on dental prescribing behaviour the high proportion of clindamycin and the low share of metronidazole in Germany are noticeable.