Antibiotic prophylaxis for patients with joint prostheses - still a dilemma for dental practitioners

To provide a critical review of the current evidence that implicates dental-induced bacteraemia as a risk for joint infections in patients fitted with joint prostheses and appraise the need for antibiotic prophylaxis.

Retrospective analysis.

Mainly hospital-based patients or subjects.

The relationship between joint infections and dental treatment is equivocal at the best and there is no evidence that antibiotic prophylaxis provides such patients with any protection.

Microbiological evidence linking dental treatment-induced bacteraemia to joint infections is weak and if an oral commensal is implicated, it is more likely to have arisen either from a spontaneous bacteraemia or from a dental infection. As a consequence of the latter, we recommended the institution of good dental health prior to joint replacement. There may be a case for providing prophylaxis to the immuno-compromised patient, but only if the immuno-suppression is associated with a neutropenia. In such circumstances, only emergency treatment should be considered until the neutropenia is resolved. Antibiotic regimens that are recommended by orthopaedic surgeons have not been evaluated in a randomised placebo-controlled study and many of the drugs are not licensed for this purpose. The evidence on cost-risk benefit seems to demonstrate that antibiotic prophylaxis with either amoxicillin or penicillin is not cost effective when compared with no prophylaxis.

The case for providing antibiotic prophylaxis prior to dental treatment in patients fitted with a joint prosthesis is weak or virtually non-existent. Furthermore, the risk from providing prophylaxis is greater than the risk of a joint infection.