It depends on your preference with risk and complications.
There was a study published in December 1997, which is cited here in this recent article in the Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, investigating the effects of taking antibiotics before dental implant surgery. They performed 2,640 dental implants surgeries and did half with and without antibiotics.
The people who took antibiotics before surgery had an 80% decreased chance of surgical complications.
If you are a patient who does not have any known serious risk to taking antibiotics, it may benefit you to take antibiotics as prescribed by your dentist.
The mouth is not a sterile environment. There are bacteria growing at the rate of 20 billion per hour. An open wound is at risk for germs seeping and causing infection. Your body’s immune system is designed to protect you; however, it does not always work properly. Antibiotics can assist in preventing bacterial infections when recovering after dental implant surgeries.
In my office, most patients decide to take antibiotics prior to dental implant surgery. In my experience, patients who take antibiotics prior to dental implant surgery have very few problems or complications. To learn more about our technique for placing dental implants, here’s a video about how our 3 Minute Implant™ procedure works.
[box type=”info”]Drop us a note if you have any questions as it relates to dental implant surgery.
All the best-
Dr. Joe Kravitz
Dentist, Prosthodontist, Author and Researcher
Rockville, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC
