cover image: Dental treatment to correct dental caries in patients undergoing surgery

Premium

20.500.12592/djx7r2

Dental treatment to correct dental caries in patients undergoing surgery

22 May 2012

Poor dental health is believed to be an important associated risk factor for blood-borne infection in patients undergoing major surgery. Dental chronic infections such as periodontitis, periapical lesions or advanced carious lesions can cause the development of infective endocarditis, an infection of the inner lining of the heart chambers and valves. Blood-borne bacteria may lodge on damaged or abnormal heart valve tissues causing this specific type of inflammation. There is a general agreement that dental treatment is desirable before heart valve replacement in an effort to decrease the risk of prosthetic valve infective endocarditis. If dental treatment is not given preoperatively, an infection of dental origin may compromise surgical outcomes, although this has not been proven. Furthermore, invasive dental procedures may pose a significant risk of causing bacteremia and subsequent development of endocarditis in patients with certain heart conditions or structural defects. High risk dental procedures may cause bleeding and tissue damage, and if there are bacteria circulating in the bloodstream, they can attach to the inner rough surface of the heart, which may cause infective endocarditis. Some dental procedures are more likely to cause bacteremia than others. Antibiotics are used in some cases to prevent infection; the decision whether to use antibiotics depends on the procedure or the condition of the heart. Recent guidelines from the American Heart Association give recommendations for the prevention of infective endocarditis. It is unknown whether small dental cavities are associated with risk of infection when patients undergo major surgery. The purpose of this review is to provide clinical evidence on safety and harms in patients undergoing surgery without preoperative dental treatment for dental caries.
health risk factors research systematic reviews dentistry heart medical research medicine surgery health care dentist cohort studies therapy oral health dental caries communicable disease clinical trial clinical medicine bacteremia surgical wound infection dental heart disease health treatment health sciences virus disease cohort study cohort caries infective endocarditis endocarditis endocartitis
Pages
13
Published in
Canada

Related Topics

All