The effect of tetracycline on the incidence of postextraction alveolar osteitis.

Four hundred twenty-four mandibular third molar extractions of varied surgical difficulty were evaluated for the occurrence of alveolar osteitis. In 219 of these sockets, tetracycline powder was placed immediately after the tooth was removed. This resulted in a significant reduction in the incidence of alveolar osteitis from 28.7% to 14.6%. There was also a positive correlation between the rate of alveolar osteitis and the increasing depth of the impaction and the degree of surgical difficulty.