METRONIDAZOLE - 2 OR 3 TIMES DAILY - A COMPARATIVE CONTROLLED CLINICAL-TRIAL OF THE EFFICACY OF 2 DIFFERENT DOSING SCHEDULES OF METRONIDAZOLE FOR CHEMOPROPHYLAXIS FOLLOWING 3RD MOLAR SURGERY

Metronidazole, used for prevention and treatment of infections in oral and maxillofacial surgery is frequently prescribed three times daily, but research into its pharmacokinetics has shown that a twelve hourly dosage regimen achieves and maintains therapeutic serum concentration s.(8) No clinical data is available to support this and consequently a single blind, prospective, randomised trial was carried out to compar e rates of postoperative infection following mandibular third molar ex cision under general anaesthesia. Sixty-two patients were randomly all ocated to receive either 400 mg of metronidazole twice or three times daily for 5 days and all were assessed by the same surgeon for postope rative infection 7 days later. There was no statistically significant difference between rates of infection in either group and of potential side effects only nausea occured statistically more frequently in the three times daily group. It would appear that a 12-hourly dose interv al of metronidazole is no different from an 8-hourly dose interval, in prevention of local mound infection following minor oral surgery.