Risk of postoperative bleeding after dental extraction in patients on antiplatelet therapy: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective. To determine the risk of bleeding after minor extraction in patients on different antiplatelet therapy (APT) regimens. Study Design. A search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar. Thirty-five papers were included in the systematic review, of which 23 papers provided the requisite information for meta-analysis. Subgroups were created based on the controls, as follows: (1) no control, (2) healthy control, and (3) interrupted APT control. In a meta-analysis, the studies were further subdivided into immediate and delayed bleeding. Results. No immediate or delayed bleeding risk was found in patients treated with aspirin vs healthy controls (relative risk [RR] = 1.26; P = .5 and RR = 2.17; P = .09, respectively). A higher immediate bleeding was recorded for patients on single nonaspirin APT vs those in the healthy population (RR = 3.72; P = .0009). A high risk of bleeding was recorded in patients receiving dual APT compared with healthy controls for immediate (RR = 10.3; P < .0001) and delayed (RR = 7.72; P = .001) bleeding. Dual APT continuation showed a higher risk of immediate bleeding (RR = 2.13) than interrupted APT, but the difference was insignificant (P = .07). Conclusions. Dental extraction can be performed safely in patients on aspirin monotherapy. In contrast, patients receiving dual APT should be considered at risk for immediate and continued bleeding. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2024