• Evaluation of antibiotics on treatment of dental caries and investigating their side effects
  • Shirin Anghozeh Yazdi,1 Mohammadhassan Lotfalizadeh,2,* ‏Sepehr Kobravi,3
    1. Dental Student Research Committee, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
    2. Board Certificate Oral and Maxillofacial Radiologist, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences (NKUMS), Bojnurd, Iran
    3. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry (Khorasgan), Isfahan Azad University, Isfahan, Iran


  • Introduction: Dental caries, also known as "tooth decay," is one of the most common chronic and infectious illnesses of the whole oral cavity. The primary reason for losing teeth in young adults and children is dental caries, leading to tooth root deterioration in the elderly. The principal etiologic agents of dental caries are cariogenic bacteria, which can ferment carbohydrates to create acid and demineralize tooth surfaces. Lactobacillus spp, Actinomyces spp, Streptococcus mutans, and other types of bacteria not using air are estimated to be the primary causes of dental caries. This review summarized the use of any antimicrobials such as systemic antibiotics in clinical settings up to this point and also on checking for the side effects of these antibiotics.
  • Methods: The search engines used to find published data between the years 2000 and 2020 include well-known specifically Scopus databases, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar. The search technique was to download and recover distributed writing managing compelling anti-microbials for preventing dental decay. Specific keywords such as “antibacterials”, “dental caries”, “antibiotics ”, “antibiotic side effects”, “bacterial infection”, and “dental plaque “ were used. Four hundred studies were funded. Based on abstracts, 360 studies were omitted, and 40 went for full reading texts were finally included in the criteria.
  • Results: Antibiotics of penicillin V and penicillin G were the primary choice for treating dental infections of classic etiology. However, using penicillin can lead to some bad side effects, such as diarrhea, hypersensitivity, rash, neurotoxicity, urticaria, and nausea. The broad-spectrum antibiotic tetracyclines can make protein amalgamation more difficult by restricting to the 30S ribosomal subunit in the mRNA interpretation complex. Some of tetracycline‘s side effects include stomach cramps, sore tongue or mouth, diarrhea, headache (rarely), skin photosensitivity, and vision issues, as well as kidney damage that has also been reported. Some Side effects of metronidazole, such as a metallic taste, nausea, skin flushing, tachycardia, headaches, shortness of breath, and loss of appetite, have been reported. By reversibly restricting to the P site on the 50S subunit of the bacterial ribosome, macrolides can inhibit ribosomal translation and obviate peptidyl transferase from attaching the tRNA-attached peptide to the next amino acid as it grows. Side effects include myopathy, long QT syndrome, cholestasis, and recycling through the enterohepatic system. Mitral annuloplasty and susceptibility-guided antibiotics containing benzylpenicillin and clindamycin have been shown to inhibit S. Lactobacillus and ‏mutans acidophilus development in vitro. Some Side effects such as diarrhea, pseudomembranous colitis, vomiting, abdominal cramps or pain, nausea, and contact dermatitis.
  • Conclusion: From infancy to old age, dental caries are the most popular oral epidemic diseases. The treatment of dental caries using drugs that focus on the particular cariogenic microorganism is about as effective as systemic antibiotics. Another basic idea is that The oral cavity of the human body is in a condition of concurrence with a microbial local area. Antibiotics' effects on the community of oral microorganisms and their connection to oral cavity disease have been the subject of few studies. Maintaining ecological balance and also future direction for the creation of new oral cavity-applicable antimicrobials is essential to the treatment of oral diseases because of the strong connections between the microbiome and diseases.
  • Keywords: Antibiotics Treatment Dental caries Side effects