抄録
Around a century ago, Dr. Paul Ehrlick said, “There are only two choices: either to identify a causative organism, to attack it thoroughly, or to give empiric therapy.”His words still hold true. To identify causative organisms in the shortest period possible is most important. In this sense, the Gram's staining is a great help to detect causative organisms so that we can choose the most appropriate antimicrobial agents. We would like to report on some cases of odontogenic infections. Sample pus collected by needle aspiration from the closed abscess and immediately spread on a glass plate, was submitted for Gram's staining. When also possible, part of the samples is sent for laboratory identification in our hospital. We would also like to explain the procedure of the method with some pictures. The first priority is the quality of samples. Unless a sample is in good condition, the identification is impossible. The second is the technique to spread the sample thin on the glass plate. Even though in some cases we fail to get a good result for various reasons, we would like to emphasize the usefulness of this Gram's stain method, especially for those who do not have any means to detect causative organisms.
