Infection after orthognathic surgery, with and without preventive antibiotics.

Prophylactic antibiotics are often administered during orthognathic surgery to prevent infection. Prophylactic antibiotics were given to a group of 389 orthognathic surgery patients, with the development of 1 case of acute and 12 cases of chronic infection. One case of chronic infection appeared in another group of 76 patients who had not received prophylactic antibiotics. Antibiotics seem not necessary for routine use in orthognathic operations, as a prophylaxis.