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. 2021 Sep;48(9):1270-1280.
doi: 10.1111/jcpe.13514. Epub 2021 Jul 8.

Invasive dental procedures as risk factors for postoperative spinal infection and the effect of antibiotic prophylaxis

Sahyun Sung  1   2 , Eun Hwa Kim  3 , Ji-Won Kwon  2 , Jung-Seok Lee  4 , Soo-Bin Lee  5 , Seong-Hwan Moon  2 , Hwan-Mo Lee  2 , Inkyung Jung  6 , Byung Ho Lee  2
Affiliations

Invasive dental procedures as risk factors for postoperative spinal infection and the effect of antibiotic prophylaxis

Sahyun Sung et al. J Clin Periodontol. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Aim: To identify invasive dental procedures as a risk factor for postoperative spinal infection (PSI) and evaluate the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis.

Materials and methods: We analysed 229,335 patients who underwent spinal surgery with instrumentation from 2010 to 2017, using the nationwide database. The incidence of spinal infection 2 years after surgery was determined. Invasive dental procedures as a risk factor for PSI and the effects of antibiotic prophylaxis during this period were also analysed.

Results: A total of 15,346 patients (6.69%) were diagnosed with PSI. It was found that advanced age, male sex, and a high Charlson Comorbidity Index were risk factors for PSI. The risk of PSI did not increase following dental procedures (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.850; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.793-0.912) and was not affected by antibiotics (adjusted HR 1.097; 95% CI, 0.987-1.218). Patients who received dental treatment as early as 3 months after spinal surgery had the lowest risk of postoperative infection (adjusted HR 0.869; 95% CI, 0.795-0.950).

Conclusions: Invasive dental procedure does not increase the risk of PSI, and antibiotic prophylaxis before dental procedure was not effective in preventing spinal infection.

Keywords: antibiotic prophylaxis; invasive dental procedure; nationwide database; postoperative spinal infection; spinal surgery.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Diagram representing the nationwide scoliosis investigation based on data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment service
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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