The oral cavity is a complex biological ecosystem made up of a large number of organisms living in a biofilm. The first antibiotic discovered by the Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming back in 1928 was penicillin, while in 1940 clinical practice was introduced to the use of antibiotics, which have been widely used in dentistry ever since. Symptoms of dental infection are most often accompanied by pain, fever and swelling. Chemotherapeutics, specifically antibiotics used to treat an infection caused by a bacterium, belong to a group of antimicrobial drugs. They are divided into bacteriostatics and bactericides, and depending on the amount used, some can have both a bactericidal (affect cell wall synthesis) and bacteriostatic (affect the growth or reproduction of bacteria) effect. When prescribing antibiotic therapy to children, it is important to emphasize that children's physiognomy and anatomy differ significantly from those of adults. The most commonly prescribed antibiotics for the pediatric population include penicillins, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, macrolides, clindamycin and metronidazole. Odontogenic inflammation, traumatic injuries, periodontal disease, pericoronitis and infections of the oral soft tissue are only some of the diseases that require antibiotic therapy when it comes to pediatric dentistry. Caution should be exercised when prescribing antibiotic therapy to pregnant women because any inappropriate therapy can lead to fetal damage. Analgesics, anesthetics and antibiotics are considered the safest agents and are thus most often used during pregnancy (penicillin, penicillin V, amoxicillin and amoxicillin with clavulanic acid).