Antibiotic Sensitivity Patterns of Aerobic Bacterial Agents in Post-Surgical Orofacial Infections

Background: There is no data on the bacteriology of postsurgical orofacial infections at our institutions. Uncontrolled use of antibiotics may lead to development of resistance with the resultant increase in morbidity and cost of treatment. We aimed to determine the aerobic bacterial agents and antibiotic sensitivity of post-surgical infections in the orofacial region. Methodology: Patients were evaluated for post-surgical wound infection from the 5th to 30th post-operative day. In cases where a surgical implant was placed the period of review was extended for up twelve months. The specimens were collected using sterile swabs and transported to the microbiology laboratory within two hours of collection. The specimens were then analyzed for bacteriology according to the standard bacteriological techniques. A wide range of antibiotics including those commonly used to treat orofacial infections were tested for sensitivity against the isolates obtained using the disk diffusion test (Kirby-Bauer procedure, using CLSI protocols). Results: Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 40% of the isolates followed by Klebsiella species (23%) and the Pseudomonas species (19%). Amoxycillin/clavulinic acid, the 2nd and 3rd generation cephalosporins were effective against most of the bacterial infections from the orofacial region. Conclusion: Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas species are the commonest isolates from the oral facial region. Antibiotics which showed adequate efficacy against them were the augmented Penicillins and newer generations Cephalosporins.