New guidelines regarding antibiotics to prevent infective endocarditis

The American Heart Association recently updated its guidelines regarding which patients should take a precautionary antibiotic to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) before a trip to the dentist.

Only the people at greatest risk of bad outcomes from infective endocarditis — an infection of the heart's inner lining or the heart valves — should receive short-term preventive antibiotics before common, routine dental and medical procedures.

The patients who still need preventive antibiotics prior to dental treatment are those with:

• artificial heart valves
• a history of having had IE
• certain congenital (present from birth) heart conditions
• a cardiac transplant which develops a problem in a heart valve.

Here is a link to the American Heart Association website:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3047051