The significance of oral health and dental treatment for the postoperativeoutcome of heart valve surgery

The objective of this study was to evaluate the significance of preoperativ e dental treatment for the development of complications in the form of infe ctions during the first postoperative weeks after heart valve surgery. In o ne group of patients (n = 149), oral health was examined and dental treatme nt performed 3-6 months prior to heart valve surgery. In a second group (n = 104), oral health was examined postoperatively and these patients did not receive any dental treatment before surgery. Infections were recorded for all patients during the first three weeks after surgery and correlated to t he dental status at the time of surgery. Sepsis or endocarditis occurred in 5.4% of the first group and in 1.9% of the second group. Freedom from all infections for the two groups was 55% and 56%, respectively. The results di d not reveal any significant differences between the groups regarding patie nts' oral health at the primary oral examination. The frequencies of postop erative complications such as focal infections, fever and increased CRP wer e also found to be similar for both groups. The combined scores of complica tions were 2.1% and 1.8%, respectively. Data from the present study do not support the suggestion that dental intervention will decrease the rate of e arly complications following heart valve surgery.