I Have Lymphedema Should I Take Antibiotics Before Dental Work?

I Have Lymphedema Should I Take Antibiotics Before Dental Work?
This is a frequent question that arises in all the online lymphedema support groups. My own personal opinion is that it depends upon your personal history with infections and with the stage of your lymphedema.

My preference is to take a prophylactic course anytime I have dental work. This is because I have such a difficult time with and am so very susceptible to cellulitis. Also, because a lymphedema limb is already immunocompromised, the risk of a dental infection spreading to the effected limb is a much greater risk.

Here is an excellent question and answer from the National Lymphedema Network's Q&A section on their website.

Dr. Kathleen Francis is the responder to the question:

Q: I have primary lymphedema of my left leg and had one episode of cellulitis in my leg about 7 years ago. I have to undergo dental treatment soon and have heard that I will need to take antibiotics before the procedure to avoid getting an infection. Is this true?

A: The answer to your question is not a simple one, unfortunately. The question of antimicrobial prophylaxis has been a controversial one for years and recommendations are still evolving. Although prophylaxis in certain groups has become generally accepted, not all applications have been proven. I will quote from an excellent review article on antibiotic prophylaxis in dentistry by Tong and Rothwell in the journal of the American Dental Association in 2000:

"There is a long held belief in the theory of focal infection such that subclinical infectious foci in the oral region .result in systemic illness or cause disease processes in distant locations. Although generally regarded as not having scientific merit, this concept often drives recommendations for the use antibiotics prophylaxis. As a result, dentists and physicians tend to use antibiotics in situations in which there are no clear scientific bases."

One group for whom antibiotic prophylaxis is very well documented in the literature is persons at risk for infective endocarditis (IE), an infection of the lining of the heart or heart valves that can be life-threatening. Those at highest risk for endocarditis include persons with prosthetic cardiac valves, previous endocarditis, severe congenital heart disease, some heart valve disorders, or certain types of pulmonary or ventricular shunts.

Those dental procedures that appear to carry the highest risk for susceptible patients include dental extraction, periodontal procedures such as surgery or scaling, certain endodontic surgery, dental implants and reimplantation, initial placement of orthodontic bands, interligamentary local anesthetic injections, and prophylactic cleaning with anticipated bleeding.

The trend over recent years has been to recommend antibiotic prophylaxis in dentistry for fewer conditions. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons now recommends against routine antibiotic prophylaxis in patients with prosthetic joint replacements. This arose, in part, from studies showing that the risk of death from severe reactions to antibiotics actually far outweighed the risk of late prosthetic joint infection.

In returning to your specific question, the answer at this time is that there is no specific scientifically supported recommendation for antibiotic prophylaxis for dental procedures in patients with lymphedema, all of whom have some risk of cellulitis in the affected limb due to a compromised lymphatic system. Bear in mind that some reactions to antibiotics can be fatal, whereas cellulitis is almost never life-threatening.

The bottom line is that without good scientific studies examining the question of prophylaxis and lymphedema, individuals with lymphedema planning to undergo dental work should be evaluated carefully by a physician to determine the relative risks and benefits of antibiotic prophylaxis in each particular case. My bias is to use antibiotic prophylaxis only for those high-risk dental procedures described above in a few patients who continue to have multiple recurrent episodes of severe cellulitis in the lymphedematous limb or those who have developed cellulitis following a dental procedure in the past. However, different physicians have different approaches to this, and you need to speak with your own physician and dentist who have insight into your particular medical history.