Transient bacteremia in pediatric patients after dental extraction

The incidence of bacteremia in a group of well children undergoing dental extraction of both normal and abscessed teeth was determined. Blood samples were obtained from each child before and immediately after dental instrumentation and then cultured aerobically and anaerobically. Eleven of 36 (30%) of the postextraction cultures were positive, and Streptococcus viridans grew from all of them. Bacteremia was more common after the extraction of diseased teeth, and there was no relationship between bacteremia and the number or species of teeth removed.