Effectiveness of Antibiotics to Reduce Early Implant Loss in Systemically Healthy Patients

The decision to prescribe an adjunctive antibiotic when placing a dental implant in a systemically healthy patient who is not receiving a bone graft remains a controversial issue. In an effort to elucidate this enigma, the authors analyzed, from a statistical and clinical significance perspective, seven current systematic reviews that address this concern. Hypothesis testing often does not provide clear understanding regarding the efficacy of the administration of antibiotics in association with clinical implantations. Therefore, number needed to treat (NNT) calculations may be used to determine the effectiveness of antibiotics to reduce dental implant losses. The NNT indicates how many additional patients need to be treated with antibiotics to avoid an additional implant failure in another patient. This article addresses two questions: Do antibiotics help reduce implant loss, and if they do, what is the best drug dosage to use when placing dental implants? Based on NNT calculations, the data is interpreted to denote that adjunctive antibiotics help reduce early implant loss in systemically healthy patients who are not receiving bone grafts and that 2 gm of amoxicillin prior to implant placement in non-allergic patients appears to be a satisfactory drug dose that provides a clinically significant benefit.