Articles

Antibiotics: Boon or Bane in Dentistry?

Dentistry is a vast domain devoted to managing dental infections as well as bolstering and rehabilitating the dentition lost to bacterial invasion. Antibiotics are an essential part of dentistry and its relative specialties, and prescribing antibiotics is a privilege that should not be abused. Antibiotic prescriptions in dentistry are relatively small but nonetheless significant. With the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial species, there is a need to become more vigilant about their prescription, as well as an urgent need for both professional and public understanding of the appropriate use of this life-saving component of treatment. This review discusses the various principles and rationales underlying antibiotic therapy in various fields of dentistry, with an emphasis on rational antibiotic use in dentistry.

Carbapenems: A Short Review about their Current Status

In this review, we summarize the current “state of the art” of carbapenem antibiotics and their role in our antimicrobial armamentarium. Among the beta-lactams currently available, carbapenems are unique because they are relatively resistant to hydrolysis by most beta-lactamases. Herein, we described the cost effectiveness, safety, and advantages of carbapenems as compared to other antibiotics. We also highlight important features of the carbapenems that are presently in clinical use: imipenem-cilastatin, meropenem, ertapenem, doripenem, panipenem-betamipron, and biapenem. In closing, we emphasize some major challenges related to oral formulatuion of carbapenems and different strategies to overcome these challenges.

Formulation Development, Characterization and In Vitro Antibacterial Activity Evaluation of Cefazolin Loaded Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

The main aims of this manuscript are to: i) investigate the high drug loading of cefazolin and its characterization, ii), demonstrate the bioactivity of the cefazolin particles in vitro on Staphylococcus aureus. From our results, it is observed that the cefazolin loading into MCM-41 particles is 34 wt %. Furthermore, particles showed the burst release of cefazolin at pH 6.8.  At higher concentration, MCM-41 particles are comparatively more cytotoxic as compared to lower concentration. Finally, cefazolin loaded particles showed higher in vitro antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus as compared to cefazolin only.