[Patients with heart valve prostheses: dental care, dental procedures and prevention]

Patients with birth or rheumatic heart defects, or wearing prosthetic cardiac valves, are at high risk of developing bacterial endocarditis following dental treatment. Two hundred patients with cardiac valves were surveyed with respect to both their oral hygiene habits and their last visit to the dentist. More than half of the respondents (112) were fully edentulous, and most of them had not seen a dentist for many years. Of the 88 respondents who had natural teeth, 23 had not been to a dentist since surgery. For the purpose of this study, focus was placed primarily on the answers given by the 65 patients who reported having been to a dentist after surgery. Only 41 of them (63 per cent) reported having received a prophylactic antibiotic therapy while being treated with a risk of bacteremia. Of the 24 others who did not receive prophylactic antibiotic therapy, 20 were given dental treatments with a risk of bacteremia. In light of this study, there should be recommendations to improve the health care given to patients predisposed to bacterial endocarditis.