Dental note: New guidelines for infective endocarditis prophylaxis

Antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines for infective endocarditis

Since infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening infection, dentists should be aware of antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines. The American Heart Association (AHA) 4 and the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) 2 have currently updated their recommendations. In general, both guidelines reflect the need to avoid the overuse of antibiotics, which may lead to the development of...

Infective endocarditis: rationale for revised guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis.

Prophylaxis for infective endocarditis: antibiotic sensitivity of dental plaque.

The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of bacteria isolated from bacteraemia after dental extraction was compared with that of bacteria isolated from dental plaque samples from the same patient. The results supported the current practice of using penicillin and erythromycin empirically for prophylaxis. The prediction of the most appropriate antibiotic for prophylaxis using dental plaque samples was...

Prophylaxis against infective endocarditis. A review of current international guidelines.

The purpose of this review is to discuss current international guidelines on the prevention of infective endocarditis (IE). It has long been considered that all patients with heart conditions predisposing to IE should receive antibiotic prophylaxis when undergoing procedures leading to bacteremia with organisms known to cause endocarditis. However, evidence for this is poor and based on isolate...

Antibiotic Prophylaxis of Infective Endocarditis

Links between infective endocarditis (IE) and dental and other invasive procedures were first identified in the 1920s, and the use of antibiotic prophylaxis (AP) to prevent IE was first recommended by the American Heart Association in 1955. Recognising the weak evidence to support this practice and the wider risks of anaphylaxis and antibiotic resistance, guidelines in the USA and Europe have b...