A Comparative Clinical Evaluation of the Effect of Preoperative and Postoperative Antimicrobial Therapy on Postoperative Sequelae after Impacted Mandibular Third Molar Extraction

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effect of preoperative and postoperative antibiotics therapy on postoperative sequelae after impacted mandibular third molar extractions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a prospective study conducted at Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the Lagos University Teaching Hospitalon consecutive patients with impacted third molar extractions for a 12 month period. Group I (n = 31) had administration of 1 gram of oral metronidazole and 1 gram of amoxicillin capsules 30 minutes preoperative and Group II (n = 31) had 500 milligrams of amoxicillin capsule 8 hourly and 400 milligrams of metronidazole tablets administered post operatively for 5 days. Pain, facial swelling and mouth opening assessment were done postoperatively and on days 1, 3 and 7. RESULTS: The general pattern of postoperative pain, regardless of antimicrobial use revealed that pain increased from day 1 to day 3 postoperatively and began to decrease in intensity subsequently up to the seventh day. There was however a statistically significant difference (P = 0.0001) between the two groups on the 7th postoperative day with the subjects in Group I showing lower pain intensity. The mean difference of the facial width on days 1 and 3 was significant (P = 0.04 and P = 0.0001 respectively) with subjects in Group II having a reduced facial width compared to those in Group I. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that the administration of preoperative or postoperative antibiotics showed no marked differences in the degree of postoperative sequaele that occur after impacted mandibular third molar extractions.