ac tinomycosis: an unusual complication of oral surgery-a case report

actinomycosis, a rather uncommon infection of the oral cavity, poses and unusual problem: recurrence. primary or initial diagnosis of the disease is difficult and can be made easier only if the clinician bears in mind a few important facts: a previously compromised site is usually present, a slow, low-grade, almost painless infectious course is prevalent which tends to localize, and responds to short-term antibiotic therapy only to be followed shortly by recurrence. it is stated that with this set of features the patient should be considered to have actinomycosis until proven otherwise. this report presents a rather unusual case of cervicofacial actinomycosis which occurred secondary to an attempted surgical extraction of an impacted maxillary third molar tooth. the organism was sampled under anaerobic conditions, identified, isolated and confirmed by gram's stain, culture, and biochemical tests, respectively. cure was obtained only after surgical drainage, debridement, and oral antibiotic administration continuing for approximately three months.