Precautionary Antibiotics No Longer Recommended for Most Cardiac Patients

For decades, doctors have prescribed antibiotics for dental patients at risk for infective endocarditis.   Currently, however a growing body of evidence suggests that these prophylactic antibiotics may actually cause more harm than good, and the American Heart Association has retracted its recommendations for pre-dental work medications to all but the highest risk heart patients.

Patients who will continue taking antibiotics prior to dental procedures are those with:

Artificial heart valves

A history of having had infective endocarditis

Certain specific serious congenital heart conditions, including:

-unrepaired or incompletely repaired cyanotic congenital heart disease, including those with palliative shunts and conduits

-a completely repaired congenital heart defect with prosthetic material or device, whether placed by surgery or by catheter intervention, during the first six months after the procedure

-any repaired congenital heart defect with residual defect at the site or adjacent to the site of a prosthetic patch or a prosthetic device

-a cardiac transplant which develops a problem in a heart valve

“Except for the conditions listed above, antibiotic prophylaxis is no longer recommended for any other form of congenital heart disease, according to a statement by the American college of Cardiology American Heart Association.”

**Please check with your doctor if you have any concerns or questions about your condition.   A copy of the 04/19/2007 AHA statement and related article is available in our office.