Assessment of routine diet (garlic consumption) as a pre- and postoperative protocol in oral and maxillofacial surgical interventions: An evidence-based literature review

Abstract

Background: It was hypothesized that pathological bleeding (PB) during and/or after oral surgical procedures is higher in systemically healthy patients who have a history of garlic intake compared to controls (patients without a history of garlic consumption). Aim: The aim of the present review article was to identify studies in which garlic consumption was included as a patient management protocol before and after oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS). Methods: A review of pertinent indexed literature was performed. The focused question that was addressed was “Has diet (garlic consumption) been considered as a patient management protocol before and after OMFS?” The inclusion criteria were: (a) studies published in indexed databases, (b) original studies, (c) studies on OMFS, and (d) studies that considered diet (garlic consumption) as a patient management protocol before and after OMFS. Literature review, commentaries, letters to the editor, and studies published in non-indexed resources were excluded. The pattern of the present review was customized to summarize the pertinent information. Results: The initial search using the terms “oral,” maxillofacial,” “protocol,” and “surgery” yielded 1478 studies. The addition of the term “diet” to this search strategy reduced the number of studies to five. Further filtration of these studies using the terms “garlic” and/or “ Allium sativum” showed no studies. Conclusions: Garlic intake predisposes patients to PB. However, there are no studies in the indexed literature that have considered the inclusion of garlic consumption in patient management protocols before and after OMFS.