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Do You Premedicate?

The American Heart Association has recently changed its guidelines concerning premedication with antibiotics prior to dental procedures. If you have taken a premed antibiotic in the past, Dr. Chomas advises that you check with your physician to determine whether premedication is still recommended or can be discontinued.

The guidelines say that patients who have taken prophylactic (preventive) antibiotics routinely in the past but no longer need them include people with:

• Mitral valve prolapse
• Rheumatic heart disease
• Bicuspid valve disease
• Calcified aortic stenosis
• Congenital heart conditions such as ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Patients with the following conditions are considered to be at risk of adverse effects from edocarditis and treatment with prophylactic antibiotics is recommended:

• Prosthetic cardiac valve
• Previous infective endocarditis
• Congenital heart disease (CHD), including:
• Unrepaired cyanotic CHD
• Repaired congenital heart defects within the first 6 months after the surgery or repair procedure
• Repaired CHD with residual defects at the site of the prosthetic patch or device
• Cardiac transplantation patients who develop cardiac valvulpathy

What's New Archive

• Dental Decay and Nutrition
• Increased Dental Decay among Patients with Asthma
• Do You Premedicate?
• The AcuCam® Concept® IV
• The World Would Benefit from Having a Lot More Watsontowns