Allergies, Author Interviews, C. difficile, Dental Research, Infections / 05.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alan E. Gross, PharmD Clinical Assistant Professor University of Illinois Chicago, IL MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Dentists prescribe 10% of all outpatient antibiotics. Most of this prescribing is for infection prophylaxis prior to dental procedures. Our prior research has found that 80% of prescriptions for dental prophylaxis is unnecessary. Although antibiotic prophylaxis prior to dental procedures is often for a short course (e.g. one time amoxicillin dose), there may be patient harm associated with this. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research / 02.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Katie Suda, PharmD, M.S.  Associate Professor College of Pharmacy University of Illinois at Chicago  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Dentists prescribe approximately 1 in every 10 antibiotics in the United States and are the top specialty prescriber. Dentists are the primary prescriber of clindamycin in the U.S., which is associated with a high risk of C. difficile infection (an overgrowth of bacteria in the GI tract that can cause a life-threatening infection). Clinical guidelines recommend that patients with specific cardiac conditions receive a dose of antibiotics prior to undergoing invasive dental procedures to prevent infective endocarditis (an infection of the heart values). Taking a dose of antibiotics prior to a dental visit is referred to as antibiotic prophylaxis. Starting in 2007, these guidelines were narrowed secondary to poor evidence on the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis and the risk of antibiotic-related adverse events. Antibiotic adverse events include antibiotic resistance, C. difficile infection, and other general adverse events (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea). While significant research has been conducted on unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics by medical providers, little work has described appropriateness of prescribing by dentists. We assessed if antibiotics prescribed for prophylaxis prior to dental procedures were consistent with clinical guidelines. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dental Research, JAMA, Opiods / 09.08.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Calista Harbaugh, MD House Officer, General Surgery Clinician Scholar, National Clinician Scholars Program Research Fellow, Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Wisdom tooth extractions is one of the most common procedures among teens and young adults, with more than 3.5 million young people having wisdom teeth pulled every year. This procedure is commonly paired with a prescription for opioid pain medication. As the opioid epidemic sweeps the nation, we must pay attention to the long term effects of opioid prescribing for even routine procedures. This is particularly important for wisdom tooth extraction where there is evidence that opioid pain medications may be no more effective than anti-inflammatories alone. Using commercial insurance claims, we evaluated the association between receiving an opioid prescription with wisdom tooth extraction and developing new persistent opioid use in the year after the procedure. We found nearly a 3-fold increase in odds of persistent opioid use, attributable to whether or not an opioid was prescribed. This translates to nearly 50,000 young people developing new persistent opioid use each year from routine opioid prescribing for wisdom tooth extraction. (more…)