Bacterial Colonization of Suture Materials in the Oral Cavity

Background. There are some potential risk factors of wound infection in oral cavity surgery related to the type of a suture material. Objectives. The identification of micro-organisms present on two different suture materials commonly used in oral surgery and their susceptibility to microbial colonization. Material and Methods. Material collected from 25 patients appearing for dentoalveolar surgical procedures, was divided into two groups. The first group included 12 patients and the second 13 patients. In the first group, the material used was a multifilament absorbable suture, used in standard surgical procedures and swabs taken from oral vestibule. In the second group absorbable multifilament thread and non-absorbable monofilament sutured were used simultaneously to the same wound. Suture materials were excised 7 days after surgery and placed onto transport medium plates. They were inoculated 3-4 hours after collection. Results. Identification of microbes was carried out with commercially available tests: API 32 Strep., API 20A, ID 32GN, ID 32 Staph (bioMerieux). There was no significant difference in susceptibility for microbials between both groups. Prevailing bacteria isolated from both groups were oral cavity streptococci identified as Streptococcus oralis/Streptococcus anginosus group. Conclusions. In the absence of proof for differences of colonization between mono-and multifilament suture, our method of choice for suture material selection should be its convenience for a surgeon, rather than its ability for bacterial adherence.