PSVT and dental surgery

[Jess224]

I am a 34 year old woman who was diagnosed with PSVT (paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia). I have had the symptoms of psvt since I was 16 but only got diagnosed with it about 7 years ago. I've been taking Diltiazem 120mg on a daily basis ever since and recently started taking Metoprolol  25mg also on a daily basis( diltiazem in the a.m., metoprolol in the p.m.).  I went to the dentist today for an abcess wisdom tooth, and they suggested I get dentures on the top. I didnt complain because I know how bad of shape my teeth are in and I agree with getting dentures, I'm tired of toothaches. It is affecting how/ what I eat. They will be "knocking me out" for the surgery. Is it safe for me to go under anethesia and have oral surgery with my heart condition? They will be pulling out 15 teeth at once. Any responses are greatly appreciated.

[cindy707]

And wasn't that a fun one jyant???  Unfortunately w. all of my issues that is something i still do...my bad....and you know you are hooked on cigs when you fire one up after the dentist appt. and can't feel your lips or even really inhale but what i think was worse was stopping for smoke breaks between sets at the gym.....no i am bad like that LOL

[jyant]

scared me..heh heh

I came out after having 4 molars extracted and lite up a smoke.

But I'm bad like that :)

[Yvette BG]

It would be a good idea to start eating yogurt (the kind that says "contains live and active cultures" on the label) 2 or 3 times a day starting as soon as possible, and continue this for 2-3 weeks after you finish taking all the antibiotics.

Antibiotics wipe out the bad bacteria in your system, but they also destroy  good bacteria that's beneficial for health in the process. Things can get out of balance in your digestive system and body as a result and health problems can occur. An infection called Clostridium Difficile (or "C.Diff. Infection"), which is associated with antibiotic use, can result if Clostridium Difficile bacteria start taking over in your gastrointestinal system.  A person can become quite ill with severe diarrhea; there are now more resistant strains of C.Diff. bacteria that have causes death (the kidneys, heart, etc. can be affected.).

This is not to scare you--just to caution you. I got C. Diff. after antibiotic before dental work  (took antibiotic one hour before appt.) and antibiotic 2 weeks later (1 x shot) before gynecological surgery. Never thought this would be a problem for me, as I had been taking antibiotics before dental appointments twice a year for more than 30 years (due to congenital heart problems) with no problems whatsoever. I became quite ill 2 or 3 weeks after the gyn surgery with C.Diff. Don't take a chance...C. Diff. is nothing to fool around with!  

In addition to live and active cultured yogurt, I would also try to get a hold of Kefir, which is a cultured beverage with "good" bacteria in it, and I would drink that daily as well.

Good luck,
Yvette

  

[Jess224]

I want to thank everyone for their responses. I definently feel better about this now. =) I will be making sure all physicians involved are aware of my condition. I've been taking pennicillin for 3 days and still have 7 more days to go. Since I wont have it done for another few weeks or so, I'll make sure I get some pre and post antibiotics. Once again, thanks for all responses, and I look forward to my "million dollar smile"  going from =)  to  =D

[tom_h]

I've had PSVT for 54 years, and have had lots of occasions where I was "knocked out", (wisdom teeth, toncils, hernia surgeries, broken bones) but I've never had an episode.  I have always informed them of my situation though and on occasions have been wired up for monitoring when they might have done that for another patient.

[ireneo]

I've had PSVT all my life, still have it after 3 ablations although it's much improved. And I've had several operations during my lifetime with no heart complications. You're on Diltiazem and that helps. Letting your oral surgeon know is a must so they can be prepared. PSVT is pretty benign but you don't want them to have any surprises if your heart decides to start doing the jitterbug.

[cindy707]

I am so glad that you are taking care of this.  I had an issue about a month ago and one of my molars got infected and caused the infection to hit my blood stream and i started going back thru atrial fib again after a successful ablation. Once the doc pulled the molar out the infection was gone in a couple of days and no more heart issues.  As far as you having all of this done in a day..one of my sisters had that done and was dealing w. SVT before...so she talked to her heart doc and they put her on a strong dose of antibiotics an hour before the extractions and the same an hour after as a precautionary.  Some docs say you don;t need it but i agree w. my sister who works for a major hospital here and that is better to be safe then sorry and it won;t hurt a thing.  As far as going under during the extractions i would be just make absolutely sure that the oral surgeon knows your condition and i would ask him/her to call your heart doc just to make sure there aren't any special precautions that they need to make...i know i made sure that my oral surgeon was up to date on his Advanced CPR and made sure that he had an AED in the office.  No biggie...i thought he would laugh at me but he was great and said that if any oral surgeon laughed at something so serious that we needed to find another.  Mine called my heart doc and then my heart doc called me to tell what to look out for and then the oral surgeon called me to make sure i felt comfortable.  Thats my two cents worth here.  The good news is when my sister had hers all pulled in the same day they put the plates in right away and now she has the million dollar smile...good luck with your procedure.....