Antimicrobial prophylaxis in oral surgery.

Administration of antimicrobial prophylaxis is advocated in procedures with a high risk of surgical wound infection. Recent advances in knowledge in this area include the broader recognition of risk factors that better predict the expected incidence of postoperative surgical wound infection than does the traditional wound classification system. In oral surgery, guidelines for antimicrobial prophylaxis based on established principles exist in the literature, and antimicrobial prophylaxis has been demonstrated to be effective in preventing postoperative surgical wound infection. However, surveys suggest that fundamental principles are often ignored, and antibiotics are often initiated at an inappropriate time and are continued beyond the time required to be influential on reduction of infection rates.