A dentist for kids has to educate their patients about things that are true and things that are not. The most common myth we run into is the idea that antibiotics actually cure patients. The reality is that patients cure themselves, with a heavy dose of help from the antibiotics. In fact, the only thing that antibiotics do is to help reestablish the balance between the body's own antibodies and the invading infection. In our family dentistry office, we know that over 60 perfect of infections that people face are healed by their own body without any need of assistance. This is because the human body knows exactly how to fight an invader. The reason why this myth is often a problem is because people want to believe that the antibiotics their family dentist can provide them with is actually a miracle drug, since they know that when they take it, they feel better. What is important to remember is that while antibiotics help, there are many ways to fight an infection more naturally.
There are a few myths that have no basis in reality, and yet are firmly believed by patients. One of these is the idea that antibiotics have to be taken in some kind of set ritual. The reality is that treating an infection is an inexact science. As a dentist for kids we have learned what to expect from different infections on a baseline, which allows us to prescribe an antibiotic that is more than sufficient to overcome this particular infection, there is no exact way of knowing how long it would take to cure an infection of any kind.
