Oral infection and surgery

BMJ 1994;309:880 (1 October)

Letters

Oral infection and surgery

EDITOR, - Christos A Bartzokas and colleagues report a relationbetween oral infection and haematogenous infection after totaljoint replacement operations.¹ We recently reported a studyof oral health in patients undergoing vascular surgery, whichshowed a high incidence of important periodontal disease inthese patients; we postulated that this might be a cause forsome cases of infection of vascular grafts.² Like patients receivingjoint replacements, patients having vascular surgery tend tobe elderly.

Patients with prosthetic heart valves have traditionally beengiven clear instructions relating to dental health and antibioticprophylaxis for dental procedures. Patients undergoing equivalentvascular surgical procedures, however, like patients receivingjoint replacements, are much less commonly given such advice.We suggest that Bartzokas and colleagues' recommendations concerningpreoperative dental check ups and postoperative oral care injoint replacement surgery should be extended to include patientshaving vascular surgery. Since joint replacement operationsand vascular . . . [Full text of this article]