Can my tooth infection spread to my heart and kill me?

Theoretically: Dental infections can put bacteria into the bloodstream which have the potential to infect the lining of the heart (endocarditis), and this has the possibility of a fatal outcome. Most often you need to have prior damage to the heart lining for this to occur, although less often, not. Get your dental infection treated.

It can happen: If you have significant heart valve disease, or serious congenital heart disease, as dr. Raff noted you can get endocarditis from a dental infection. Endocarditis is serious and requires weeks of IV antibiotics and often heart valve surgery. It can be fatal.