Effect of azidocillin, erythromycin, clindamycin and doxycycline on postoperative complications after surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars

Antibiotic prophylaxis and third molar surgery

“…27 Improvement from trismus, reduction of pain and swelling with improved healing are outcomes that have been used to assess the success of antibiotics. [28][29][30] Many workers recommend the use of prophylactic antibiotics for extractions, including third molar surgery, only when active infection is present at the time of surgery. 31,32 But Barclay 33 compared the use of metronidazole versus a placebo involving non-acute pericoronitis patients in a randomised controlled study.…”

Single-dose and multi-dose clindamycin therapy fails to demonstrate efficacy in preventing infectious and inflammatory complications in third molar surgery

“…The subject of the preventive administration of antibiotics in third molar surgery in generally healthy individuals is controversial; whereas some authors point out the necessity of such a method 6,7,18,20 , a number of clinical trials prove the lack of efficacy of preventive administration of antibiotics 4,9,21,24,26,27,29 . Many practising oral surgeons administer antibiotic during the periprocedural period in order to prevent inflammatory complications 23,25 .…”

Clindamycin and dentistry

“…Clindamycin was compared with azidocillin, erythromycin and doxycycline in a double blind randomised control trial. 61 This study showed that systemically administered antimicrobials offered only slight advantages in routine operations of impacted third mandibular molars. With the exception of doxycycline, these antimicrobials showed little reduction in postoperative swelling.…”