Antibiotic therapy in fully impacted lower third molar surgery: randomized three-arm, double-blind, controlled trial

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of three drug protocols in patients undergoing extraction of fully impacted lower third molars. Methods: Eighty surgeries were performed on healthy patients using three randomized double-blind drug protocols: group 1 (G1), amoxicillin (1 g) 1 h before surgery + 500 mg 8/8 h for 7 days; group 2 (G2), 1-g amoxicillin 1 h before surgery plus placebo, with identical appearance to G1, 8/8 h for 7 days; and group 3 (G3), placebo 1 h before surgery and 500 mg 8/8 h for 7 days. The primary outcome criterion was mouth opening, and the secondary outcome criteria were facial edema and pain. Signals as body temperature, lymphadenopathy, and dysphagia characterize the sample. Evaluation was performed at baseline and on the 4th and 7th postoperative days by the same researcher. Results: There was no difference among groups with respect to any of the parameters evaluated (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Under these experimental conditions, there is no advantage in the administration of antibiotics in healthy patients undergoing extraction of fully impacted lower third molars with a controlled aseptic chain. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.