CDA Essentials 2017 • Volume 4 • Issue 2

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21 Issue 2 | 2017 |
Issues and People
There is an increased awareness of dentistry’s
responsibility to address a national epidemic
of narcotics abuse and how our prescribing
patterns may be contributing to this problem.
thought leaders series
Dr. Peter L. Jacobsen
Prescribing practices for pain medications will be more regulated.
In the United States, we’re seeing new government-directed guidelines for prescribing pain
medications and these guidelines are impacting dentistry in terms of the types of drugs we
can prescribe and the duration for prescribing those drugs. There is an increased awareness
of dentistry’s responsibility to address a national epidemic of narcotics abuse and how our
prescribing patterns may be contributing to this problem.
There will be more regulation related to antibiotic stewardship.
I think the concept of responsible prescribing of antibiotics will lead to more regulation
related to antibiotic stewardship—meaning we need to address which antibiotics to
use, when to use them, at what dosage and for what duration. Of course we should be
responsibly prescribing all medications, but antibiotics are at the forefront because of the
worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance. As prescribers, we have a responsibility to deal
with that problem. In the U.S., dentists prescribe 10% of all antibiotics, so our prescribing
responsibly can have a meaningful effect.
The future of
dental pharmacology
Exciting developments in research and technology are making it possible to re-
imagine how dentistry will be practised in the future. In a series of interviews on
Oasis Discussions CDA reached out to leaders in various
dental specialties to ask them how their particular fields might be transformed in
the next 10 years.
Peter L. Jacobsen, PhD, DDS, is an adjunct professor at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of
Dentistry in California, where he served as director of the Oral Medicine Clinic for 30 years,
and currently practises general dentistry part-time in San Francisco. He lectures extensively
on dental pharmacology and over-the-counter dental drugs. He authored The Little Dental
Drug Booklet, a quick reference guide for drugs commonly used in dental practice and has
been named one of the leaders in continuing education by Dentistry Today magazine for
ten years in a row. He is also a part-time farmer, supplying produce to some of the finest
restaurants in San Francisco and Napa Valley. Here, he shares his thoughts on the future of
dental pharmacology.