Is routine antibiotic prescription following exodontias necessary? A randomized controlled clinical study

The importance of routine antibiotics following exodontias should not be addressed in isolation but in conjunction with other factors. Information obtained included patient bio-data, oral hygiene status, tooth extracted, type of exodontias (routine or surgical) and duration of extraction ( than 10 min). Randomized patients for extractions were divided into two groups, method of randomization and allotment of patients were done by blind masking. Selection of group was done by picking closed ballot papers which had been designated as 1 or 2, 1-signifies no antibiotic and 2-signifies antibiotic prescription. The first group was given antibiotics following extraction and second group which served as the control were not given antibiotics. There were a total of 262 patients that had exodontias within the study period, 104 (39.7%) males and 158 (60.3%) were under the age range 15 to 96 years, and mean (standard deviation) of 35.2 (14.6) years. There were 162 (61.8%) patients in the first group and 100 (38.2%) patients in the second group (no antibiotics), 95 (36.3%) patients in the second group had non-traumatic extractions and 5 had traumatic extractions. 45 patients in second group had extractions that lasted more than 10 min. Out of 240 (91.6%) routine extractions done, 96 (36.6%) were in the second group and of 22 (8.4%) surgical extractions, 4 (1.5%) were in the second group. This study showed that routine antibiotic used was not necessary following all exodontias procedures, and variables such as type of extraction, difficulty of extraction and adherence to post operative instructions were important associated factors that determined the occurrence of postoperative complications. The registration number of this trial is PACTR201408000861302. Registered with the Pan-African Clinical Trial Registry. Key words: Exodontia, complications, antibiotics, associated factors.