2006 – VOLUME 35 – Issue 2

One of the difficulties encountered during drug prescription is to avoid interactions susceptible of provoking or inducing undesirable effects or leading to a reduced treatment efficacy. These interactions mostly concern the association of two active substances, but can also be observed in an association with food intake as grapefruit juice, milk or alcohol. We review through the literature pharmacological and clinical data on one of the principal interactions of metronidazole. An antibiotic, Metronidazole, usually prescribed in Dentistry, when is associated to alcohol consumption, can lead to a reaction known as antabuse effect. Having defined the biologic origin and clinical symptomatology of this reaction, we discuss in detailed the different elements of our knowledge to assess the fact and the significance of this reaction with the association of metronidazole and alcohol according to different administration modes.