Antibiotic Prophylaxis: When do you need it

Category: Medically Compromised — dr.nazlihaffiz @ 1:07 pm — post

May 19, 2007

There are times during dental extractions or dental surgeries that we need to prescribe antibiotics before procedure. The antibiotics are given not in small amounts but quite a number of tablets/capsules which some may find hard to swallow.

The basic guideline would be 2 grammes which would mean:

Eg. Amoxycillin 250mg per capsule (Pharmaniaga) therefore to reach 2g, a person would have to take 8 capsules.

The dosage of course would be modified for children according to age and bodyweight.

Now, when do doctors need to prescribe the antibiotics?

Not all heart diseases and conditions require antibiotic cover before any dental extractions or surgeries. The common conditions that need antibiotics would include:

Prosthetic Heart Valve

Previous history of Infective Endocarditis

Congenital Heart Disease (only those with unrepaired cyanotic CHD, repaired CHD with prostheses within 6 months post-operation and residual defects near the site of prostheses after repair)

Heart patients who develop cardiac valvulopathy

For the complete article from the Journal of American Heart Association, please click here.

It is imperative that patients know their condition as well as the medication and treatments done as this information, when relayed to dentists and dental surgeons, would help them decide on the need for antibiotic prophylaxis.

Ask your medical doctor about your heart condition. Jot down the type and medication prescribed/treatments done to help you relay the information on your next dental visit. This could well help you to avoid unnecessary post-surgical and post-extraction problems.

Thanks to Palmdoc for bringing the topic up in his website.