A comparative study of amoxicillin, clindamycin and chlorhexidine in the prevention of post-extraction bacteraemia.

We evaluated some of the regimens recommended for the antimicrobial prophylaxis of infective endocarditis prior to dental extraction in 160 patients. Group A patients served as the control group, group B subjects rinsed their mouths with chlorhexidene, group C subjects took 3 g amoxicillin orally and group D patients took 600 mg clindamycin orally. The proportion of patients who had post-extraction bacteraemia in groups A, B, C and D was 35, 40, 7.5 and 20%, respectively. The differences between the control and amoxicillin groups (p = 0.003) and between the chlorhexidine and amoxicillin groups (p = 0.0006) were statistically significant. Streptococci were not isolated in any patients in the amoxicillin and clindamycin groups. In our study, none of the regimens were effective in preventing post-extraction bacteraemia.