Antibiotics to prevent complications following periodontal surgery

Abstract

The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of prophylactic prescription of amoxicillin (Regimen B: 2 g, 1.5 h before surgery) compared with conventional dosage (Regimen A: 500 mg tid) on post surgical complications. A double blind randomized split mouth design study conducted on 21 patients with severe periodontitis who were referred to the periodontics department or the special clinic of Mashhad Faculty of Dentistry, Iran. All the patients must have at least two quadrants with equal disease severity in one dental arch which needed periodontal surgery. After surgery patients randomly received one of the two antibiotic regimens. Post-surgical complications like: pain, swelling and bleeding were recorded on a specified questionnaire. Fifteen patients after antibiotic therapy with regimen A and 17 patients after receiving regimen B had pain. There was not significant difference between two regimens. Occurrence of bleeding after surgery was similar in two regimens (3 of 21 patients in each group). The use of regimen B demonstrated a slightly higher rate of swelling and fever (42.9% and 28.6%, respectively) than regimen A (38.01% and 19% respectively). Despite these trends, no statistically significant relationship was found between post surgical swelling and fever and any of treatment modalities. With regard to the result of this study and considering the cost and hazards of consuming antibiotics, their routine use during or following periodontal surgery must be questioned. Further large scale, controlled clinical studies are warranted to determine the role of perioperative antibiotics in the prevention of periodontal post-surgical infections. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.