antibiotics for dental work

Tara,

I am very careful to take antibiotics even if all I am having done is a teeth cleaning. My dentist explained that a cut in the gums could lead to pericarditis – an inflammation around the heart. I take antibiotics from the day before I go to the dentist until 2 days after the appointment. I have been taking prednisone for 10 years and try to be proactive about its side effects.

A personal quirk that I have developed since getting CIDP is that I cannot take pain shots containing epinephrine – at the dentist or the dermatologist. Also during complicated dental work he stops occasionally and gives me the oxygen mask “to improve my color”.

My dentist said he has an MS patient who went out of town to a specialty dentist to get all her silver fillings replaced. She was better for a while and then had MS issues again. MS is viciously unpredictable.

Congratulations on getting dental insurance. It is bad enough to need all that dental work without paying a lot too.

Flossie