Tooth Dental Abscess Antibiotics - A Dentist's Guide
If you have a tooth abscess, antibiotics are pretty much an essential part of treatment. Tooth abscess antibiotics for a dental infection are very effective, and the most commonly prescribed antibiotic is probably Amoxicillin, a type of penicillin. It's usually called Amoxyl.
BUT you don't ALWAYS need antibiotics, and these days we are trying to cut down on antibiotic prescribing due to bacteria becoming resistant. If it's possible for your dentist to drain an infection, either by making a small hole in the tooth or else by making a small incision in the gum to let the pus out, then the infection has a way out, and you may not need antibiotics.
The discovery of the first antibiotic - penicillin - by Nobel Prize-winner Alexander Fleming created a revolution. As Woody Allen said, "I wouldn't want to have lived in any time period before the invention of antibiotics".
When you think about it, he's right! Before antibiotics came along, many people died from simple infections that would be treated very easily today.
ONE THING to remember, though, is that we have an increasing problem of bacteria becoming immune to our antibiotics.
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE.
Potentially, this is a very serious problem, because it means that in the future, a simple infection might kill you if the bacteria responsible have become immune to antibiotics.
The problem of some types of bacteria developing immunity (or "resistance") to common antibiotics has developed gradually over recent years, due to doctors and dentists "over-prescribing". While there is A LOT of research being done into new, alternative antibiotics, we can all help to reduce the problem of antibiotic resistance by only taking current tooth abscess antibiotics when we are SURE that there is an infection caused by
bacteria, with a swelling, difficulty opening your jaw, or a raised temperature.
THERE IS ALSO NEW PRESCRIBING INFORMATION! Recent studies (in 2017) have shown that SHORT courses of antibiotics (ie. 3 to 5 days) are
just as effective as longer courses (ie. 7 to 10 days). AND taking antibiotics for
longer than 3 to 5 days means that you are MORE LIKELY to get an antibiotic-resistant infection!
The report recommends only taking antibiotics
for as long as you still have symptoms. As soon as you feel things are back to normal, you can STOP taking the antibiotics.