THE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS FOR THE PREVENTION OF BACTEREMIA FOLLOWING ORAL SURGERY

¹ Departments of Bacteriology and Oral Surgery, Baylor University College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas

When blood cultures are made on patients immediately following oral surgery, a high incidence of bacteremia can be demonstrated. When such individuals are given adequate doses of antibiotics, such as Terramycin, the incidence of demonstrable bacteria in the blood stream is markedly reduced. This reduction is more evident in the group having no clinical signs of infected teeth or surrounding tissues.

Positive blood cultures were higher when a greater number of teeth was removed at any one time. This incidence of bacteremia was markedly reduced in the premeditated patients by the administration of oral Terramycin 3 hours preoperatively.

The organism most commonly found was Streptococcus viridans. In all cases the strains of Streptococcus viridans isolated showed an in vitro sensitivity to the antibiotic used in this report.