Dental Surgery Linked To Short Term Stroke And Heart Attack Risk

Summarized article for your convenience :

Heart attack and stroke risk may rise in the month following invasive dental treatments such as tooth extractions, British researchers have revealed in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

While there was a significantly increased heart attack or stroke risk during the month following dental work the risk disappeared six months later.

Researchers reviewed medical aid claims data of 32,060 adults who had a heart attack or stroke, backtracked to see if the person had undergone any invasive dental procedures. 650 people had a stroke and 525 had a heart attack after invasive dental work. The researchers considered other factors known to increase risk for heart attack and stroke, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

More than half of the heart attack and strokes in the study occurred in women and 30% in people younger than 50.

Dr Liam Smeeth, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said:

"Many people who are only at moderate risk most of the time will enter periods of very high risk intermittently in response to inflammatory or infectious triggers due to surgery, and those people might benefit from short periods of prophylactic (preventive) therapy that most of the time they don't need."

The authors concluded:

"Invasive dental treatment may be associated with a transient increase in the risk for vascular events. However, the absolute risks are minimal, and the long-term benefits on vascular health will probably outweigh the short-lived adverse effects."

Further reading from the source articles :

Medical News Today
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205129.php

WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/news/20101018/some-dental-treatment-is-linked-to-heart-risk