Sammanfattning
Antibiotic resistance is rapidly increasing worldwide and constitutes a substantial threat to modern health care and patient safety. Resistance driving factors include utilization of antibiotics, hygiene measures in health care, sanitary conditions, infrastructure of the health care system and environmental factors. Resistance levels in the Nordic countries are uniquely favourable from a global perspective, which through various political initiatives, actions of governmental authorities and WHO, have established an ongoing international collaboration between multiple sectors, such as health care, industry, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine to counteract and prevent antibiotic resistance. From an international perspective, antibiotic utilization in dentistry in the
Nordic countries is low and accounts for approximately 4.6–6 percent of antibiotic prescriptions in primary health care. However, there are some indications that antibiotic usage in dentistry can be further reduced. The possibility to prevent and increase dissemination of antibiotic resistance is most favourable when the prevalence of antibiotic resistance is low, as in the Nordic countries. What we do today will have great implications on tomorrows resistance development.