Coping with Antimicrobial Resistance in the Context of Dental Medicine

According to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is ranked in the top 10 global public health threats, because it is a threat to health and development. AMR results in huge costs, causing high mortality and morbidity, and their associated economical costs. It is now consensual that a One Health approach is essential to understand and fight AMR. This One Health framework requires transdisciplinary work and action to identify the drivers of AMR and to characterize AMR across the three One Health domains: Human Health, Animal Health, and Environmental Health. Within the Human Health domain, dentists, as prescribers, have an important contribution to addressing AMR. In human medicine, about 10% of antibiotic prescriptions are issued by dentists. Therefore, dental teams have an evident responsibility to participate in and support local and global efforts to tackle AMR.



All members of dental teams must commit to engaging in combating antibiotic resistance by undertaking various actions. Such actions can range from:



1) antibiotic stewardship interventions

2) raising awareness, through education and training

3) infection prevention and control measures

4) research & development of new prevention or treatment strategies



It is of interest to report and divulge the implementation/development/optimization of those actions and their results.



Studies reporting the impact of AMR in dental practice, unveiling the role of oral microbiome and its resistome in oral health and diseases, addressing any intervention to optimize antibiotic use in dentistry, or exploring innovative effective prophylactic and treatment options to replace the need for antibiotics (either in vitro or clinical studies) are of interest to this Research Topic. Original research papers, reviews, case reports, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, methodological papers, and brief reports are invited.

Keywords: Oral Health, Dentistry, Antibiotics, Antimicrobial Resistance, Alternative Treatments

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