Current Evidence regarding Prophylactic Antibiotics in Head and Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery

Table 2

Author	Year	Study design	Procedure	Sample size	SSI	𝑃 value	ARR	NNT
Andreasen et al. [18]	2006	Systematic review	Maxillofacial fractures	4 Studies
Lawler et al. [34]	2005	Review	Dentoalveolar surgery	4 studies
Lodi et al. [7]	2012	Interventional review	Third molars	18 studies with 2456 participants	Compared with placebo, antibiotics probably reduce the risk of infection in patients undergoing third molar extraction(s) by approximately 70%.	SSI: 𝑃<0.0001; Dry socket: 𝑃=0.03	SSI: 0.29 (95% CI 0.16 to 0.50); Dry socket: 0.62 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.95)	SSI: 12; Dry socket 38
Abubaker and Rollert [25]	2001	RCT	Mandible fractures	30 patients (Group 1: 14, Group 2: 16). All patients received penicillin 2 M i.v. every 4 hours through the pre- and intraoperative period and for 12 hours postoperatively Group 1 then received 500 mg penicillin VK every 6 hours for 5 days, group 2 placebo for same duration and under the same schedule	Group 1: 2/14 (14.3%); Group 2: 2/16 (12.5%)	𝑃=0.01; No significant difference
Esposito et al. [8]	2010	Intervention review; Cochrane	Dental implantation	6 RCTs, 𝑛=1162	The meta-analyses of the six trials showed a statistically significant higher number of participants experiencing implant failures in the group not receiving antibiotics	𝑃=0.002	0.33	25
Hochman et al. [21]	2006	Meta-analysis	Tympanostomy	9 RCTs, 𝑛=2060	Topical prophylactic antibiotic drops for at least 48 h postoperatively	𝑃=0.000		2
Dhiwakar et al. [19]	2012	Cochrane review	Tonsillectomy	10 RCT, antibiotics to reduce posttonsillectomy morbidity	Fever as secondary outcome	𝑃=0.002	0.63, (95% CI 0.46 to 0.85)
Saleh et al. [20]	2012	Systematic review and meta-analysis	Endoscopic sinus surgery	Total of 4 RCT and meta-analyses with 3 RCT; 𝑛=492			0.76, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.09