Sensitivity of oral bacteria to imipenem and other antibiotics

Specimens from a variety of oral and maxillofacial infections were cultured and 88 bacterial isolates belonging to the genera Bacteroides, Actinomyces, Staphylococcus, Veillonella, Eubacterium, Streptococcus and Aerococcus were obtained. These were tested for their sensitivity to imipenem, penicillin, cefuroxime, vancomycin, erythromycin and fusidic acid. Imipenem proved to be the most effective of the antibiotics tested, inhibiting all 88 isolates. Penicillin was the least effective in that it inhibited only 56% of the isolates.