November 16, 1998
Web posted at: 6:42 p.m. EST (2342 GMT)

From Reporter Louise Schiavone

(CNN) -- A trip to the dentist isn't exactly a treat for anybody. But for one group of patients, there's new hope that it may soon become easier.

For 40 years, doctors have warned people with endocarditis, a potentially deadly heart inflammation, about dental care. One patient, Janice Moore, said her doctor told her she would be at risk any time she went to the dentist or had a procedure that would expose her blood to bacteria.

So dentists have long required patients with endocarditis, and those with heart valve or other conditions that put them at risk, to have a dose of antibiotics before certain procedures.

"Even if one patient should come down with a bacterial endocarditis because of a problem with dental treatment," said dentist John Arroyo, "it's one too many as far as I'm concerned."

But researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found some encouraging news for those patients. After comparing endocarditis patients with others in the Philadelphia area, the study concluded:

"Neither dental work in general nor any individual dental procedure was significantly associated with infective endocarditis, except, possibly, tooth extraction."

One cardiologist believes the long-standing policy should now be changed. "It's hard for an individual doctor to do it because there are issues of legal liability," said Dr. David Pearle, director of Georgetown University Hospital's Coronary Care Unit. "So my hope is that organizations like the American Heart Association will set out new guidelines," he said.

Doctors expect any change to come slowly. For now, the American Heart Association recommends antibiotics before invasive dental procedures on patients vulnerable to endocarditis. But the group said it regarded the University of Pennsylvania study "with great interest."