New Systematic Review: Dental Prophylaxis in Patients with Arthroplasty
Posted by bibby1 on September 15, 2008
Do antibiotics before invasive dental procedures prevent infections in patients who have had arthroplasties of the hip or knee?
This was a question posed by researchers at the University of Geneva Hospital, in Geneva, Switzerland.
These authors systematically reviewed the PubMed database, for articles related to the development of infection following invasive dental procedures in patients who have had arthroplasties of the hip or knee. They hand-searched the bibliographies of relevant references and did not limit their search to clinical trials. They found 24 case reports, 3 small case series, and 34 review articles; 23 papers that prospectively assessed the rate of asymptomatic bacteremia; and no controlled studies.
The authors concluded that it is possible that prophylactic antibiotics prevent infections in patients with previous arthroplasty undergoing invasive dental procedures. However, there was no reliable data on the subject.
Read the full text of the review here.
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