Is a preprocedural mouth rinse recommended to reduce dental procedure-induced bacteremia?
Antimicrobial mouth rinses used by the patient before a dental procedure can decrease the number of microorganisms introduced into the patient’s bloodstream during invasive dental procedures. The scientific evidence is not clear, however, concerning the incidence and nature of bacteremia from invasive dental procedures, the relationship of bacteremia to disease, and the preventive benefit of antimicrobial rinses. Limited studies have not shown mouth rinsing to reduce substantially the numbers of oral microorganisms in patients’ blood. However, the American Heart Association (1997) suggests that patients at risk for bacterial endocarditis use an antimicrobial mouth rinse before dental treatment. Further study is needed to determine the effectiveness of preprocedural mouth rinsing for reducing dental procedure-induced bacteremia and the relationship of bacteremia to disease. Back to Top Recommendation for preprocedural mouth rinses CDC makes no recommendation regarding the use of preproc
