Lack of evidence for increased postoperative bleeding risk for dental osteotomy with continued aspirin therapy

Objective Dental osteotomy, the removal of an impacted, ankylosed, or severely destroyed tooth requiring an osteotomy, is more invasive than other minor dental procedures and therefore also has a higher bleeding risk. A considerable number of patients under antiplatelet therapy interrupt their therapy perioperatively, which, however, increases the risk of thromboembolism. Study Design This retrospective study assessed postoperative bleeding incidence for a total of 297 dental osteotomies with continued aspirin therapy, compared with that of 179 similar procedures on patients who were not on any anticoagulation or anti-platelet therapy. All procedures were carried out on an outpatient basis. Results Postoperative bleeding event was rare in both groups, 5 (1.7%) and 2 (1.1%), respectively, and the difference was not significant ( P  = .7). Conclusions Continued aspirin therapy in patients undergoing dental osteotomies has no effect on the incidence of postoperative bleeding and should not be interrupted.