Dear Patients,
The weather is heating up, and the Cavaliers are in the NBA finals. What a great time to live in Cleveland, Ohio!
With the advance of summer come the ubiquitous weddings and graduations. As a parent there are few events more emotion provoking than when your children graduate from high school. Sure, there’s the birth of a child, or their wedding day and all the other important events in between, but to me, a child’s graduation from high school signals their passage from a child to an adult. It signifies all the work and effort parents put into the child’s growth and development to become a contributing member of society. So, my congratulations to the graduates and a hearty congrats to all those parents and grandparents for a job well done!
On a dental note, the American Heart Association has recently concluded that there is no evidence linking dental procedures with the development of endocarditis. Therefore, the current practice of giving patients antibiotics prior to dental procedures is no longer recommended except for those patients in the high risk category. These include:
- Prosthetic heart valve
- Previous endocarditis
- Certain congenital heart defects
- Cardiac transplants
My recommendation is to consult your personal physician to determine whether you are in the high risk category. Should you have any question regarding the AHA’s guideline changes please visit americanheart.org or call our office for an explanation of the new recommendations.
Sincerely,
Michael W. Dagostino, DDS