Update on bacteraemia related to dental procedures

The oral microbiota is highly diverse consisting of more than 700 bacterial species. Notably, only half of these species can so far be cultivated. This may have an impact on how to interpret negative findings in blood cultures. The present paper gives an overview of the current knowledge on bacteraemia after common oral procedures such as tooth extraction, root scaling, periodontal probing, suture removal, orthodontic treatment, tooth restoration, non-surgical root canal treatment, chewing, tooth brushing, flossing, and use of tooth sticks. The possible relationship between periodontitis-related bacteraemia and cardiovascular diseases is also considered, as well as bacteraemia after oral procedures compared to procedures representing irritation or minor trauma to other mucosae. It may be that patients never seeing a dentist are more unfitted as blood donors than those recently having seen one.