Analysis of the antibiotic prophylaxis prescribed by Spanish Oral Surgeons

ABSTRACT

Aim: To identify prophylactic antibiotic prescription practices among Spanish dentists with preferential dedicationto Oral Surgery in different types of tooth extraction surgeries.Method: Members of the Spanish Oral Surgery Society were surveyed on antibiotic prophylaxis use in 4 differenttooth extraction modalities scaled according to their surgical invasiveness.Results: Sixty-nine of the 105 distributed questionnaires were returned completed. Thirteen percent of the surveyedsurgeons would prescribe antibiotics to prevent postoperative wound infection when confronted with conventionaltooth extraction lasting less than 5 minutes. In the case of surgery lasting more than 5 minutes, thepercentage of participants that would prescribe antibiotics increased to 39%. When a mucoperiosteal flap waselevated or an ostectomy was performed, 87% and 100%, respectively, would prescribe antibiotic prophylaxis.Amoxicillin and its combination with clavulanic acid were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics. All participantswould prescribe the antibiotic orally, starting after surgery and with a duration that ranged from 2-8 days.Conclusions: The results obtained suggest that antibiotic prophylaxis for preventing local odontogenic infectionis not being correctly implemented in Spain. This can generate new bacterial resistances, facilitate adverse drugreactions and favor opportunistic infections. Better designed studies are needed in order to clarify the role of antibioticsin the prevention of postsurgical wound infection (AU)