[Bacteremia following tooth extractions]

A study was made of the incidence and nature of bacteremia occuring after extractions in a group of 189 patients hospitalised in the maxillo-facial surfery department of Iassy. The figure of 65.5% positive blood cultures demonstrates the particular role of dental extraction in the pathogenesis of bacterial endocarditis. Antibiotic sensitivity studies of streptococci, the bacteria isolated most frequently, showed their remarkable sensitivity to penicillin and erythromycin (95.9%) and their remarkable resistance to streptomycin (83.8%). This would indicate penicillin to be the antibiotic of choice in the treatment of post-extraction bacteraemia, replaced by erythromycin in individuals allergic to penicillin. Study of the relationship between the incidence of bacteraemia and the number of teeth extracted indicates the possibility of grouping several extractions at the same session, thereby reducing the period of administration of antibiotics as a "cover". As far as the type of anaesthesia, local or general, was concerned, the higher level of post-extractional bacteraemia in patients who had received a general anaesthetic suggests that loco-regional anaesthesia should be the method of choice.