Why should i take antibiotics at the dentist's for a heart murmur?

Bacterial endocardit: Ck with your md/do to see if antibiotic coverage is required to prevent oral bacteria from settling out on damaged heart valves. Guidelines have changed recently.

Heart Murmer: Antibiotics are used before dental treatment in order to reduce the incidence of infective endocarditis. A big word that means infection of the heart. Consult your physician before taking antibiotics since the recommendation has changed over the years. Hope this helps, .

Probably not: Most people with a heart murmur, even if the murmur is not a normal murmur, do not require prophylactic antibiotics with dental work. The theoretical reason for antibiotics before dental work is to prevent endocarditis if there is associated bacteremia (bacteria entering the bloodstream) with dental care. However, in most murmurs, the risks are low. Best advice, ask your doctor.

No longer advised: Antibiotic prophylaxis was standard for many years for several conditions including heart murmurs or mitral valve prolapse prior to dental visits to reduce the chance of endocarditis... It has been proven that statistically the risk of developing a bacteremia from a dental procedure is extremely low; the side effects and risks of taking the antibiotics are higher, and therefore no longer indicated.