Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the potential impact of prescribing antibiotics to children while they wait for hospital tooth extractions due to tooth decay on (1) their immune system, and (2) the levels of antimicrobial resistance more widely.

The English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance Report 2018 provides information on National Health Service dental prescribing in dental practices and consultations. From 2013 to 2017, the trend of antimicrobial prescriptions which includes antibiotics, continued to decrease by 24.8%. The number of daily defined doses of antimicrobials per 1,000 inhabitants per day prescribed by dentists was 0.19 in 2013 and 0.16 in 2016; with an 8.3% decrease from 2016 to 2017. The decline was largely attributed to less amoxicillin being prescribed between 2013 and 2017. A copy of the report is attached.

Information on how many children have been prescribed antibiotics or more than one course of antibiotics for dental problems in England over the last five years is not available as this data is not collected.

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of prescribing antibiotics to children who are waiting for tooth extractions due to tooth decay on their immune system and the levels of antimicrobial resistance.