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Prescribers | Dental Team | Policymakers | Patients

Antibiotic stewardship is the effort:

• To measure antibiotic prescribing 
• To improve antibiotic prescribing by clinicians and use by patients so that antibiotics are only prescribed and used when needed 
• To minimize misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses leading to the underuse of antibiotics
• To ensure that the right drug, dose, and duration are selected when an antibiotic is needed

Improving antibiotic prescribing and use is critical to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harms caused by unnecessary antibiotic use, and combat antibiotic resistance.

CDC’s Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship offers providers and facilities a set of key principles to guide efforts to improve antibiotic use and, therefore, advance patient safety and improve outcomes. These frameworks complement existing guidelines and standards from key healthcare partner organizations, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, American Society of Health System Pharmacists, Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists, and The Joint Commission.

2025 Antibiotic Stewardship Summit Recordings NOW AVAILABLE!

The Association for Dental Safety, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hosted the third annual National Antibiotic Stewardship Summit on February 2, 2025, in Atlanta, GA. The Summit presented national prescribing data and shared emerging legal developments, research and toolkits. Participants learned how to design policy for their practice/institution and left with new resources to advance successful stewardship in dentistry. Click HERE for On-Demand recordings offering up to 6.5 hours of CE credit. Note, you must log-in to the ADS website, but membership is not required. Click HERE for instructions to claim self-study CE credit.

Below are a series of antibiotic stewardship resources for dental prescribers, dental team members, patients receiving dental care, and policymakers.