{"id":4489,"date":"2024-06-06T14:28:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T14:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=4489"},"modified":"2024-06-13T14:27:33","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T14:27:33","slug":"bacterial-endocarditis-bicuspid-aortic-valve-dentist","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/bacterial-endocarditis-bicuspid-aortic-valve-dentist\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Q&#038;A: How To Avoid Bacterial Endocarditis Infections At The Dentist?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We just received a great question from Joanne, who asked, \u201cMy 17-year-old son has a bicuspid aortic valve. What are the latest guidelines to protect him against infection at the dentist?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I was recently in San Antonio at the annual meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, where I met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Douglas-Johnston-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Doug Johnston<\/a>, the chief of cardiac surgery at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. As always, Dr. Johnston was happy to answer Joanne\u2019s question and share his expert knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6JnToXZrk1w?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About How To Protect Your Heart Valves At The Dentist<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Johnston clarified that the infection Joanne was referring to was endocarditis. \u201cThis is a great question,\u201d he said. \u201cEndocarditis is a dreaded problem that happens more frequently in patients who have an abnormal aortic valve, and a bicuspid valve is classified as somewhat abnormal.\u201d Although Dr. Johnston believes many bicuspid valves function well, it\u2019s still a risk factor for endocarditis. \u201cThe number one place to get an infection is at the dentist, either through dental work or even during a dental cleaning,\u201d he said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Douglas-Johnston-Chicago-Illinois.php\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeonvideoimages\/9294123936.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Doug Johnston\" width=\"129\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Douglas-Johnston-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Doug Johnston<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to Dr. Johnston, the guidelines have changed recently and, unfortunately, are not as forceful about requiring prophylaxis with antibiotics to prevent infection during dental cleanings. \u201cThose of us who have seen a lot of endocarditis feel very strongly that people who\u2019ve had an echocardiogram showing an abnormal valve that\u2019s narrow, thickened, or leaks may have a risk of bacteria sticking to it and should routinely have antibiotic prophylaxis when visiting the dentist for cleanings.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Johnston says there&#8217;s an even greater risk when you have a valve operation. \u201cAfter you\u2019ve had a valve replacement or a valve repair, you\u2019re at increased risk for endocarditis, and the dentist remains the number one culprit. Not to knock the dentist, but we need to be careful.\u201d He said there are several different prophylactic antibiotics, and the best thing to do is talk with your dentist and primary care physician about your best options.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Johnston and Northwestern Medicine!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of Joanne and our patient community, thank you to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Douglas-Johnston-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Doug Johnston<\/a> for sharing his knowledge about protecting a heart valve, a valve replacement, or a valve repair when visiting the dentist. We also want to thank Northwestern Medicine for continuing to take care of our heart valve patients.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/videos\/lifetime-management\">Patient Webinar: Lifetime Management of Heart Valve Disease with Dr. Doug Johnston<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/bacterial-endocarditis.php\">Bacterial Endocarditis: What Should Heart Valve Patients Know?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, I have provided a transcript of this interview with Dr. Johnston below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"class_list":["post-4489","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-adams-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4489"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4582,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4489\/revisions\/4582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}