Efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in intraoral orthognathic surgery

To assess the effect of prophylactic use of antibiotics on the incidence of postoperative wound infection in intraoral orthognathic surgery, a group of 98 patients was classified in antibiotic and nonantibiotic subgroups. Antibiotic prophylaxis was used in 35 cases and was not used in 63 cases. The overall incidence of infection was 11.4% and 11.1%, respectively. The type of surgery performed made apparent but not statistically significant differences in the incidence of infection. Alveolar surgery patients had a 14.2% incidence with antibiotics and 4.7% incidence without antibiotics, while sagittal osteotomy patients had 8.3% and 26.3%, respectively. The infections that occurred were minor, easily treated, and did not result in any compromise in the predicted outcome of the surgical result. On the basis of the data gathered in this study, we conclude that antibiotic prophylaxis is contraindicated in alveolar surgery, and should not be used routinely in sagittal osteotomies.