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Efficacy of Antibiotic Prophylactic Regimens for the Prevention of Bacterial Endocarditis of Oral Origin

¹ Special Needs Unit, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Santiago de Compostela University (Spain); and
² Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, 256 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8LD, UK

^* corresponding author, c.scully{at}eastman.ucl.ac.uk

Despite the controversy about the risk of individuals developing bacterial endocarditis of oral origin, numerous Expert Committees in different countries continue to publish prophylactic regimens for the prevention of bacterial endocarditis secondary to dental procedures. In this paper, we analyze the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in the prevention of bacteremia following dental manipulations and in the prevention of bacterial endocarditis (in both animal models and human studies). Antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines remain consensus-based, and there is scientific evidence of the efficacy of amoxicillin in the prevention of bacteremia following dental procedures, although the results reported do not confirm the efficacy of other recommended antibiotics. The majority of studies on experimental models of bacterial endocarditis have verified the efficacy of antibiotics administered after the induction of bacteremia, confirming the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in later stages in the development of bacterial endocarditis. There is no scientific evidence that prophylaxis with penicillin is effective in reducing bacterial endocarditis secondary to dental procedures in patients considered to be "at risk". It has been suggested that there is a high risk of severe allergic reactions secondary to prophylactically administered penicillins, but, in reality, very few cases have been reported in the literature. It has been demonstrated that antibiotic prophylaxis could contribute to the development of bacterial resistance, but only after the administration of several consecutive doses. Future research on bacterial endocarditis prophylactic protocols should involve the re-evaluation of the time and route of administration of antibiotic prophylaxis, and a search for alternative antimicrobials.

KEY WORDS: endocarditis • bacteremia • dentistry • antibiotic prophylaxis