Say AHHH! A dental student’s check-in with the community about antibiotics and toothache

Qasim Arain And Amaan Amjad

Dental Students, University of Manchester

As dental students, we are the next generation of “Antibiotic Guardians.” Keeping antibiotics working is vital for the longevity of public health.  Thus, as the academic year came to an end, we took the opportunity to shout about it at the University of Manchester’s community festival.

Our ‘Antibiotics DON’T cure toothache’ stall was hugely popular and managed to engage audiences of every age through an array of fun activities and freebie charms. A simple prompt such as “Tell us your story” about antibiotics and toothache proved to be a curiously popular way of inviting participants to the stall. This gave us an opportunity to explore ways in which the adults and young people can get more involved with the antimicrobial stewardship scheme. Many even went on to express their support by pledging the use of antibiotics strictly when necessary, via the Antibiotic Guardian website, whilst others showed concern through involvement with an AMR survivor’s advocacy charity (The AMR Narrative). In the meantime, their young children indulged in a testing game of “special medicines” for the reward and promise of pushing a colourful ball into a voting tube. Being experienced dental students, we took this as an opportunity to reward the positive behaviour change with stickers in classic dental fashion. Branded pens, mints and other items were also all on standby for those children who were feeling more ‘grown up’ that day.

An online survey exploring the public’s opinion on antimicrobials and toothache was also conducted as part of a wider project to gauge the factors underpinning high rates of antibiotic use. Those completing it were rewarded with a branded T shirt. The gyms of Manchester will surely be filled with people sharing the message that ‘Antibiotics DON’T cure toothache’ as 40 people completed the online survey! Our results are currently being written up for publication. Let’s say, as dental students, we are shocked by the findings and will share them via another blog later this year.

After completing the survey, some people had more specific questions about the appropriate treatment of toothache and about antibiotics and other antimicrobial medication. Our ‘step by step guide to fixing your toothache’ helped us provide clear answers and proved particularly useful when fielding questions about varying presentations and diagnoses of toothache. In fact, it reminded us of the complex nature of toothache! Could this be why some healthcare professionals view antibiotics as a simple ‘get out of jail card’ with their patients?

Collectively, within the multitude of conversations with the public, an unwavering spirit to strive towards the sustainable use of antibiotics shone through. Yet, few individuals truly understood the risks associated with antimicrobials, or when antibiotics are strictly necessary for toothache. Therefore, continuing to explore new methods knowledge mobilisation through community outreach is important in promoting informed decision making about the benefits and risks associated with antimicrobial medication to health.

We advocate for all healthcare students to take the Antibiotic Guardian pledge and encourage their friends and families to follow suit. Individuals play an important role in keeping antibiotics working and sharing the pledge helps the message to further permeate across communities.

A family visiting the community festival play with the colourful resources whilst dad completes the on-line survey. Consent kindly given to authors and supervisor to publish their photo as part of the blog