Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Selected Implants and Devices

Abstract

Certain implants or devices are widely believed to put patients at risk from oral bacteremia. They include but are not limited to intravascular access devices, solid organ transplants, vascular grafts, coronary artery stents, breast implants, and penile prostheses. The purpose of this article is to review the risk of implant or device infection from transient bacteremia of oral origin and to provide recommendations for appropriate dental management. Since dental treatment bacteremias are a very rare cause of metastatic infections, attributing causality to dental treatment procedures can be viewed as unfounded in almost all cases.