Thirty million deaths directly related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are expected globally in the period between 2025 and 2050, with an annual mortality rate of 8.22 million by 2050 which is reaching similar levels to the annual mortality rate of cancer (9.7 million).
The more we use antimicrobial agents, the more AMR is expected to develop. This is leading humanity to face a situation similar to pre-antimicrobial discovery era, when simple infections were not possible to treat.
Dentists prescribe approximately 10% of antimicrobials in the UK and Ireland, and there is evidence of increasing rates of reported resistance to many antimicrobials in head and neck infections. It is important that the dental community acts now in response to this global health threat. Appreciating the requirement for system-level changes to facilitate the provision of best evidence practice, we need to take the lead and protect antimicrobial use to cases when it is justified based on evidence.
This could be guided by the available resources on three major national platforms:
- Dental antimicrobial stewardship: toolkit (UK Health Security Agency)
- Keep Antimicrobial Working website (British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy)
- Dental stewardship resources (Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group)
This year, the United Nations focus has been on non-communicable disease such as cancer and diabetes. People with these conditions are susceptible to rapidly advancing infection. Dr Wendy Thompson from the College of General Dentistry explained:
“Prevention is better than cure. Preventing non-communicable diseases, such as dental infection, reduces antimicrobial use and must be a global priority, to secure our future.”
This message was emphasised at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 80) in September.
World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) is a global campaign to raise awareness and increase understanding of AMR and to promote global action to tackle the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens. It is commemorated annually from 18 to 24 November.
Twenty-three national dental organisations have come together to support the WAAW 2025 theme ‘Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future’:
- Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists (ACOM)
- Association of Dental Groups (ADG)
- Association of Dental Hospitals (ADH)
- British and Irish Society for Oral Medicine (BISOM)
- British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD)
- British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN)
- British Association of Dental Therapists (BADT)
- British Association of Oral Surgeons (BAOS)
- British Association of Private Dentistry (BAPD)
- British Dental Association (BDA)
- British Endodontic Society (BES)
- British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC)
- British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT)
- British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD)
- British Society of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry (BSP)
- College of General Dentistry (CGDent)
- Dental Schools Council (DSC)
- Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG)
- Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd)
- Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FDS)
- Oral Health Foundation
- Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG)
- Society of British Dental Nurses (SBDN)
Dr Noha Seoudi of the Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists, who co-ordinated this year’s statement, said: “Working together is key to improving knowledge and raising awareness of AMR.”
