Antibiotics After Wisdom Teeth Removal Can Lead to Life Threatening Infection
One subject of debate regarding those who have wisdom teeth removed is whether or not to take antibiotics and if so should you take them before or after surgery. This has been covered on this site before in such posts as 1) Antibiotics for Dental Use Contributing to SuperBugs, 2) The Effect of a Single Dose of Antibiotics Prior to Wisdom Teeth Surgery, and 3) Patient’s Perception of Antibiotic Need After Teeth Removal. Some guidance seems to indicate that a single antibiotic before dental surgery should be given to high risk patients for postoperative infections but in other patients that are healthy an antibiotic is not needed. Some may question this approach, but antibiotics can contribute the development of Clostridium difficile (C. diff or C. difficile), a serious and possibly deadly infection that is accompanied by severe diarrhea. In one case a man … Read more