Patterns of Surgical Prophylaxis Prescribing for Dentoalveolar Procedures in Australian Hospitals: 2016-2022

Antimicrobials are an adjunctive therapy in clinical dentistry. In dentoalveolar surgery, antimicrobials are not routinely required for surgical prophylaxis. This retrospective analysis of the Australian Surgical National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (Surgical NAPS) dataset aimed to evaluate the guideline compliance and appropriateness of antimicrobial prescribing for dentoalveolar procedures in Australian hospitals.

Deidentified Surgical NAPS data for dentoalveolar procedures (tooth extractions and implant placements) between 2016 and 2022 were extracted. Procedures outside the scope of a general dentist were excluded. Prescribed antimicrobials for surgical prophylaxis, including procedural prophylaxis doses and post-procedural prescriptions, were assessed for guideline compliance and appropriateness according to the Surgical NAPS algorithm.

1345 surgical episodes with dental procedures were included. This comprised 1077 procedural prophylaxis doses and 555 post-procedural prescriptions. Of the post-procedural prescriptions, 478 (86%) were for prophylaxis. Guideline compliance was demonstrated in 35.3% of procedural doses and 14.6% of post-procedural prescriptions. Rates of appropriateness were 33.5% for procedural doses and 12.6% for post-procedural prescriptions. Most procedural doses and post-procedural prescriptions were deemed inappropriate as they were not required (72.5% and 93.0%, respectively).

Suboptimal guideline compliance and appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing for dentoalveolar surgery reinforces the need for antimicrobial stewardship interventions.