Significant Decline in Antibiotic Prescribing in Dental Care Seen After Education Program

Antibiotic prescribing for acute oral infections fell by 73 percent between 2016 and 2018 at Illinois’ largest dental provider for Medicaid recipients following a program to standardize prescribing practices, according to an AHRQ-funded study. Beginning in 2016, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry initiated an antibiotic stewardship program that consisted of patient and provider education, clinical guideline updates and safety reminders sent to providers. With the reduction shown by 2018, researchers said that simple educational interventions may decrease antibiotic prescribing in the outpatient setting. They also said this approach could be adapted to other dental practices in the United States to improve antibiotic prescribing. Access an abstract of the study, which appeared in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.