Effect of Causative Tooth Extraction on Clinical and Biological Parameters of Odontogenic Infection: A Prospective Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE: To prospectively compare changes of body temperature, white blood cell count, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein between odontogenic infections in which the responsible tooth was removed and odontogenic infections in which the treatment included no extraction.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample was composed of patients admitted to the authors' maxillofacial unit for odontogenic infection from 2010 through 2013. One hundred seventy-nine patients were categorized into an extraction or a non-extraction group based on whether the causative tooth was non-restorable or restorable, respectively. Non-restorable teeth were extracted at admission of the patient. Otherwise, the treatment protocol, including incision of the involved space in conjunction with intravenous antibiotics, was the same for the 2 groups. The parameters were measured and recorded at admission and 2 days later. Data records were statistically analyzed by comparing the change of the parameters studied between the extraction and non-extraction groups. P values less than .05 were regarded as statistically significant.

RESULTS: One hundred seventy-nine patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the patients was 39.1 years (minimum, 14 yr; maximum, 81 yr; standard deviation, 15.4 yr). One hundred nine patients (60.9%) were male, and 70 (39.1%) were female. Differences in the mean decrease of axillary temperature, white blood cell count, fibrinogven, and C-reactive protein between the 2 groups were 0.178, 2,300, 1.01, and 0.64, respectively. All these differences were statistically significant (P =.02, .001, .001, and .001, respectively). Also, the mean hospital stay in the extraction group was 1.05 days shorter than in the non-extraction group, with the difference being statistically significant (P = .006).

CONCLUSIONS: In odontogenic maxillofacial infections, extraction of the causative tooth is associated with a faster clinical and biological resolution of the infection.