Dental Infections: Clinical and Microbiological Evaluation of Responsiveness to Twice Daily Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid (Amoxiclave)

Objective: the aim of this study was to determine the types of bacteria causing dental infections in duhok city, iraq, and examine its response to twice daily amoxicillin- clavulanic acid (amoxiclav). methods: the study was conducted in duhok dental health center from november 2007 to april 2008, and included 47 adult patients with the following dental infections: dry socket, pericoronitis, cellulitis, and periapical abscess. after taking smear or drainage for culture and sensitivity study, patients were prescribed amoxiclave one gram twice daily for one week. results: after ten days, culture/ sensitivity studies were repeated. more than three quarter of the total isolates were made up by streptococcus anginosus (31%), actinomyces israeli (22%), staphylococcus aureus (16%) and bacteroides fragilis (8%); more than half of the isolates had mixed infections. conclusions: the overall cure rate was (87%); the cure rate was (94%) in acute infections and (86%) in chronic ones. it may be concluded that amoxiclave, as prescribed here, is effective against most of the isolated dental microbes.