About the dental work. If certain bacteria enters the blood stream, it can be carried throughout the body. A bacterial infection can attach itself to the foreign body of the knee implant and cause a bio film of infection that can be very hard to treat. Worst case scenario, the knee has to be removed to get rid of the infection, and/or, it can cause loosening of the cement and require removal. Because of all the bacteria in the mouth, and the likelihood of breaking the skin even during routine cleaning, it has been considered preventive and cautious to take a single mega dose of antibiotics and hour before any dental work. This recommendation is under review, and some surgeons have dispensed with it, some only require it for two years, some say take it for life as a better safe than sorry approach. You said you didn't understand the dental work talk, so I wanted to explain the reason for the discussion rather than just say some do, some don't. My dentist wants me to take it because that's what my surgeon recommended, but as he pointed out, what about flossing teeth, which often breaks the skin and causes bleeding? The controversy about just taking it to be safer than sorry is the over usage of antibiotics in general which is leading to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria that are much harder to treat.
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