Dental work needs doing! What to look out for after TKR?

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Can someone please tell me what to expect when having dental work done?

I'm 3 months post TKR and have just found decay, which may need filling or extraction (its quite bad) ... What happens if it gets infected and how would that affect my prosthesis?

Thanks,

Lindy

2

You will have to have your dentist give you an antibiotic to take 1 hour prior to your appointment. It is usually Amoxicillin.

3

Hi Lindyblue.

Tell your dentist that you've had a tkr.

I'm no medic, but apparently you will need prophylactic antibiotics BEFORE the dental treatment.

I don't know if you get a script from the dentist or your GP. I just noted the information for when I will need dental treatment inthe future.

4

Thanks Jenny.

I'm curious to know as well, how an infection affects our prosthetics .. maybe someone will know

Cheers!

5

Thanks Martha, that's cleared that up....I was just thinking a course of antibiotics like we usually have. 

6

Thanks Martha!

7

Apparently if an infection gets into the bloodstream, it's really, really bad for prosthetic bits. My doctor said you'll know if you have a blood infection, you'll feel very sick and  have a high temperature....time to seek immediate help.

8

Ewww, ok then. Sounds terrible. Better get those antibiotics quick smart me thinks!

9

My husband has had both knees replaced, very bad problems with this last one. But his dr. and our dentist both said probably for the rest of his life he will need antibiotics before any dental procedure, including cleaning. The titanium in the knees is like a magnet that more or less draws bacteria to that part, this is what the surgeon in houston told us. So even if he gets a scratch that breaks the skin, we have to clean it and put an antibiotic ointment on it. I am a retired nurse, so I have tried to keep up with all the latest news on this, even though this was not my field of study.So, you do have to be very careful and vigilant.

10

They are all correct I have 3 friends that have had either one or 3 infected joints and it's not funny. It's a round of about 6-8 weeks of. IV antibiotics then the prosthesis has to be removed and an antibiotic spacer put in for some months before they can redo it...

better to be safe I think

11

Hi!

Tomorrow I go to get my teeth cleaned at my periodontist's office. At the total knee replacement class, we learned that having had a knee replacement we are in more danger of infection . The solution is taking an antibiotic ONE HOUR before the cleaning and six hours after the cleaning. This apparently will happen EACH AND EVERY TIME there is a dental procedure.

I also go to American Dental Centers for dental work. I go there every six months and to my periodontist's every six months, flip-flopping the two places. I have to find out how I handle the antibiotic thing there as well.

My pills are in the kitchen right now. There are THREE IN MY bottle. I was prescribed CYPRO. I had no adverse effects from CYPRO when I had a UTI last September, so they decided CYPRO would be fine this time, too.

I am allergic to Penicillin and any dirivative of Penicillin, so it was either Erithromyacin or Cypro for me.

Apparently this three-pill regimen will knock out any existing infection that COULD BE lurking about!

12

OMG!! That sounds intense!!! Thankfully I just rang the dentist to get an antibiotic script before doing the work!

13

Hi Cheryl, only 1 hour before. Some people say 3 days before

I'm allergic to Tetracyclene and Sulpher so only Penicillin for me

LOL We're all different ... thankfully

14

Hi I had a TKR in March and since then have had a filling, new crown and dental hygienist clean. The dentist was aware of my knee replacement and I have never had the need for antibiotics. As far as I am concerned, everything has been the same as before.

15

RooQ

this debate goes on and on, yes you do then no you don't. I had my first joint replacement in 1993 and we did take them for any "dirty" procedure be it dental colonoscopy etc. Then it goes out, but whilst they keep debating whether you should or shouldn't, we joint replacement people are left in the dark....

when I had my shoulders  revised my shoulder surgeon said yes every time for dental and anything else dirty, for the rest of my life. So that's what I will do. There is NO time limit when you can get an infection. I have 3 friends that lost joints to infection, 2 were 5 years post op and the other 7 years. So there is no safe time. 

We are responsible for our own bodies and I would insist on getting.     them...

Of you don't abuse them it shouldn't cause an issue..

16

I can attest to that

I had all the hardware removed early Mar h and had i8 weeks of vancomycin via a PICC line, then had a 6 week wait to make sure the staph wasn't back and got my new knee the 25 th of June. They tried once to clean it out once by just opening the knee and taking out the plastic disc, flushing and doing the 8 weeks of antibiotics iv then clindamycin orally for the rest of my life but after 8 m o nths or so, the antibiotics failed and I had to start all over. The success rate the 1st way of doing it is between 75-80% and this time it's 98%.

17

Hi Lindy. I'm going to the dentist tomorrow for my first appointment in nearly 30 years! I have toothache so extractions are likely to follow. I've read up about the risk of infection and many medical sources state that antibiotics aren't necessary. I've asked my dentist and I'm awaiting a response but if in doubt, I'll phone my GP first. A lot of scaremongering can take place on some issues like this. I had to take antibiotics a couple of years ago before having a prostate partial biopsy, and this was to counter risk of infection due to the invasive procedure. If in doubt, speak to your GP and dentist! Good luck!

18

I don't think something as serious as an infection is scare mongering, people are giving their experiences to help try and prevent something so awful happening to another person. 

An infection is not like having the flu or a little ache, it is actually extremely painful and a very long road to recovery if you recover. Then not to mention all the aspirations you have to have to make sure the joint is clean. 

A friend of mine fell in a car park she broke her wrist, had surgery to pin it. No antibiotics she got an infection, the wrist was ok, but it got her knee. She had to have it taken out, so they did that, but on the table she had a stroke, and now no one is willing to re do it, she is 62 so not that old...now without a knee. 

Antibiotics ? Yes I think so.

19

We had to have clearance from the dentist before they would do the joint.

20

Unless you are allergic to antibiotics, it really seems strange to have any invasive procedure without taking them, given that infection affecting the joint is a very serious condition, as OFG can tell us!  And it is not that rare . . I know personally of two, including OFG, and one here in Tenerife.  I just can't see why it would be worth taking the risk, however small that risk may be, when a few antibiotics could possibly help to avoid it.  It's not really much trouble or danger to take some antibiotics. . .