European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to assess the current trends in antibiotic prescription for various periodontal flap surgical procedures among periodontists in Chennai. Retrospective data collection was conducted from June 2019 to March 2020 on patients who visited the outpatient department of Periodontics for multitude of flap surgical procedures. The type of flap surgery done and the antibiotic regimen prescribed were recorded. The data was tabulated using excel and SPSS software version 23.0 (Statistical Package For The Social Sciences) was used for descriptive statistics.The distribution of antibiotics after flap surgical procedure among the above mentioned groups were expressed in terms of percentage. Chi square test was done to assess the association between the study variables.Based on this hospital based assessment, it was found that the most commonly prescribed antibiotic was amoxicillin 500mg, followed by a combination of amoxicillin and metronidazole for flap surgical procedures like Open flap debridement, Resective osseous surgery and regenerative osseous surgery. The least preferred antibiotics were azithromycin and doxycycline.There was statistically significant association between gender and type of antibiotic given, with a higher percentage of males receiving a combination of amoxicillin and metronidazole than females. There was no significant difference between the antibiotics prescribed for patients who underwent Resective or regenerative flap surgery. Thus Amoxicillin is the most preferred, cost-effective and less toxic drug which acts against both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. However care must be taken in administering antibiotics in order to avoid misuse and overuse of antibiotics.