CDO Letter on Antimicrobial Prescribing

Posted by: Nicole Alterado - Posted on:

The Scottish Government

In this letter from the Chief Dental Officer, dentists are notified of changes to prescribing guidance in the light of the remobilisation of services after COVID-19.

Recently the dental sub-group of the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG-D) made a recommendation to me on two issues which I have accepted:

1) As face to face dental treatment has remobilised, then the first line management of acute dental conditions should again be clinical management and not antibiotic prescribing;

2) Where an antibiotic needs to be prescribed then phenoxymethylpenicillin (Pen V) should be the first line drug.

The move towards Pen V is due to its narrower antimicrobial spectrum but having equivalent efficacy to amoxicillin for dental conditions. It also reduces the potential for antimicrobial resistance.

Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) guidance has been changed online and in the app to reflect the change.

SAPG-D is undertaking further work on the prescribing of metronidazole in dentistry and when completed I will communicate this to you.