Antibiotics and life

It is very often said that one cannot ‘unlearn’ something. Once you know it, you know it and it is not possible to imagine not knowing it. There are various developments in life of which the same might similarly be said. How could we not have motorcars, the internet, telephones; or more accurately, how could we function without them? Normal life, life as we know it and expect it to be would not be possible. Of course some sort of life would be. The early Victorians had none of these inventions and yet arguably prospered very well.

That, however, is not really the point, especially when it comes to potentially life threatening absences such as that of antibiotics. It seems inconceivable to us that we might have to go back to a pre-antibiotic era and yet unless we find ways around antibiotic resistance or alternative ways of defeating microorganisms that might very well be the prospect before us. UK dentistry can play a part in the progression towards solving this problem and we will be examining this in future articles. But it is valuable to look back at the discovery and derivation of antibiotics to see just how they have helped to shape our lives, health and medical care for over a century.