sue943
Well-known member
Today I had my appointment at the hospital dental department to have my teeth cleaned. As per the agreement on my last visit I took my 3 grams of Amoxillon an hour before.
Before he started work the dental surgeon told me that last week the local cardiologist gave a talk to dentists in this island about endocarditis. He told them that guidelines or no guidelines, endocarditis is a nasty illness and anyone who has had it once will be most reluctant to put themselves at risk of getting it again so if such a patient requests antibiotic cover then the dentist should give it to us for our peace of mind, regardless of whether it is medically considered unnecessary or effective. Bravo to him, I think I like him.
Naturally I bled quite a lot during the cleaning, my INR was 3.6 when last checked, and the dentist said that seeing that amount of bleeding made him glad that I had the antibiotic cover, that he would have felt very unhappy for me not to have had the antibiotics. So the antibiotics are for his peace of mind too.
I now have to go back in three weeks to see if there is any improvement in my gums, and then to probably have another deep clean in three months.
The dentist also said that he was very impressed with my knowledge of my condition, of replacement valves, anticoagulation etc.
Before he started work the dental surgeon told me that last week the local cardiologist gave a talk to dentists in this island about endocarditis. He told them that guidelines or no guidelines, endocarditis is a nasty illness and anyone who has had it once will be most reluctant to put themselves at risk of getting it again so if such a patient requests antibiotic cover then the dentist should give it to us for our peace of mind, regardless of whether it is medically considered unnecessary or effective. Bravo to him, I think I like him.
Naturally I bled quite a lot during the cleaning, my INR was 3.6 when last checked, and the dentist said that seeing that amount of bleeding made him glad that I had the antibiotic cover, that he would have felt very unhappy for me not to have had the antibiotics. So the antibiotics are for his peace of mind too.
I now have to go back in three weeks to see if there is any improvement in my gums, and then to probably have another deep clean in three months.
The dentist also said that he was very impressed with my knowledge of my condition, of replacement valves, anticoagulation etc.