Dear Colleagues,

Children are susceptible to bacterial, mycotic, and viral infections in the orofacial area that primarily affect the mucous membranes, dental tissues, and periodontal structures or are secondary manifestations of systemic infectious diseases.

Mucosal infections, especially mycotic ones such as thrush, and viral ones, including herpes simplex and zoster, herpangina, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and HPV-related lesions, are common clinical findings.

Nonetheless, similar to adults, most orofacial infections in the pediatric population are bacterial in origin. Among these, the most commonly diagnosed are odontogenic infections, including dental caries and associated complications (i.e., pulp necrosis, apical periodontitis, and periapical abscesses). The necrotizing form of periodontal disease and the pathological condition formerly known as juvenile periodontitis are also found in children and adolescents, as is pericoronitis.

Although these infections are secondary to bacterial pathogens, few cases of therapeutic antibiotics need to be prescribed for pediatric dental patients as most of these infections respond very well to surgical treatment to remove the source of infection.

However, antibiotics remain the most commonly prescribed medications in pedodontic patients, exacerbating antimicrobial resistance, as also evidenced by multidrug-resistant bacteria detected in oral cavities in children.

Case reports, reviews, and original research manuscripts addressing oral, dental, and periodontal infections and related treatments are welcome for submission to this Special Issue. Manuscripts examining antibiotic prescribing for therapy and prophylaxis and antimicrobial awareness in pediatric dentistry are also of interest to this collection.

Dr. Federica Di Spirito
Dr. Alessandra Amato
Dr. Francesco D’Ambrosio
Guest Editors

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• oral
• dental
• periodontal
• systemic
• infections
• infectious disease
• lesions
• manifestations
• antibiotic
• antibiotics
• diagnosis
• treatment
• therapy
• prophylaxis
• antimicrobial resistance
• multi-drug bacteria