抄録
The frequencies of severe oral and neck phlegmon due to tooth extraction and infection after third molar extraction were studied to examine background factors of infection.
1) Phlegmon occurred after tooth extraction in 20 of 142 patients (14.1%) treated in our hospital. Gas gangrene occurred in 14 of 70 patients (20.0%) reported in Japan. These infections frequently occurred after lower third molar extractions. Even severe gas gangrene did not always occur in patients with easily infective underlying diseases.
2) Although prophylactic antibiotics was administered to all 825 cases of lower third molar extraction, 6 patients (0.7%) had phlegmon and 68 (8.2%) had infection of the alveolar region. There was no relationship between the presence of underlying diseases and incidence of infection.
3) The results showed that lower third molar extraction frequently causes phlegmon or infection of the alveolar region. The incidence of infections could not be compared between the presence and absence of prophylactic antibiotics because it was adminis-tered to all patients. In the future, it will be necessary to conduct comparative clinical studies on third molar extraction with and without prophylactic administration and on different administration periods.
