Susceptibility Pattern of Isolated Pathogenic Oral Bacteria to Some Commonly Prescribed Antibiotics in Dental and General Medical Practice

Abstract

The current global rise in the morbidity and mortality rates of infectious diseases is due in part, to the problem of antimicrobial resistance. The global threat of antimicrobial resistance is also partly a consequence of widespread inappropriate prescription and use of antibiotics, sometimes on empirical basis, without any established antimicrobial susceptibility data-based guidelines on such empirical use. In the present study, we re-examined the susceptibility pattern of organisms isolated from active carious lesions to some commonly prescribed antibiotics and suggest a comprehensive data generation and establishment of guidelines based on a holistic assessment of susceptibility pattern of different organisms to the different classes of antibiotics commonly prescribed in various branches of medicine. For instance, our results revealed significant resistance of cariogenic organisms such as Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus to Amoxicillin, Gentamicin, Tarivid, Chloramphenicol and Sparfloxacin, with good susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin, Pefloxacin and Streptomycin. These findings suggest that the latter group of antibiotics could function better than Amoxicillin in the prophylactic and empirical management of dental caries and other oral infections prior to obtaining antimicrobial susceptibility test results. 
 Keywords: Antimicrobial, Susceptibility, Empirical, Resistance.