Showing posts with label Antimicrobials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antimicrobials. Show all posts

Antimicrobials used in dentistry

Antimicrobials used in dentistry

Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals to destroy or inhibit the growth of cells. Two broad classes of chemotherapeutic agents are used in pharmacology: 

  1. antimicrobials and 
  2. anticancer drugs. 

The basis of antimicrobial chemotherapy is a differential sensitivity of the patient and microbe cells to the action of the drug. The drug may affect a structural component of the target cell which is not found in the patient, for example, the bacterial cell wall. Alternatively, a chemotherapeutic agent may inhibit a metabolic pathway peculiar to the microbe cells, for example, synthesis of folate.