Is dental prophylaxis required following neurosurgical and maxillofacial surgeries?

There is a significant paucity of literature regarding dental prophylaxis in spine surgery patients. A point of controversy has remained the question of antimicrobial prophylaxis for patients with a history of neurosurgical procedures and spinal instrumentation undergoing invasive procedures on an outpatient basis. Invasive dental procedure does not increase the risk of postoperative spinal infection and antibiotic prophylaxis before dental procedure was not effective in preventing spinal infection.