Dental cleanings

[Granbonny]

I had my yearly Periodontic cleaning yesterday..I switch between regular cleaning and her every year.(She..being my Periodonist).....6 months in between...I always take the 4 ...500 mg..of Amoxicillin..1 hour before..like everyone should with valve problems... I am blessed that they NEVER ask me about my coumadin...Yes..it did hurt a tad..but NO bleeding..Not even..after I went to look at my Pearlies in Bathroom mirror.after the cleaning..at her office. ..You would think with all that scraping, ect..my gums would have bled..Nope..no sign.. No one should ever be asked to stop taking their coumadin before these cleaning.. If so, time to find yourself another Dentist, Periodonist......Bonnie

 

[Guest]

There was an article out of France today that said that almost any dental procedure can be performed if the INR is below 4.0.

Glad to hear that you had a good experience. This is another part of warfarin therapy that has largely been done on the basis of legends.

 

[Marge]

Next week I am seeing my dentist for the first cleaning since I started back on coumadin. I thought it was better to tell my dentist that I was on coumadin rather than wait to see if anybody asked me about it. I checked first with the anti-coagulation clinic -- they said that for a cleaning there is no problem, but that some dentists do like to have you test before they see you and be advised what your INR is, so to call them if the dentist needed to talk to them. Apparently, however, my dentist has no problems with coumadin. So I will go in next week and see how it goes. Hopefully a cleaning is all I'll need. Have never had any cavities & hope not to start now.

 

[warrenr]

another reference

another reference

http://www.cda.org/cda_member/pubs/journal/jour0700/complex.html

 

[Marge]

Well, had my dental cleaning on Tuesday and my dentist says I actually had LESS bleeding than I had the last time she cleaned my teeth, when I wasn't on coumadin. Don't know how to explain this except I have been very good with the flossing, water-pik, etc.

However .... she says she thinks I need to have something called "root planing." This involves "a deep cleaning of the tooth above and below the gum line in order remove any plaque and calculus that has accumulated on the tooth. The root is then planed until it is smooth.* This eliminates any rough calculus deposits on the root which can provide breeding grounds for bacteria." I'm seeing another dentist for this -- one who does "sedation dentistry" because I do not think I want to be conscious while it is going on!

Anybody have any experience with "root planing"? I am not a good dental patient and I am already dreading it. The upside: My dentist says there is no problem having this procedure while on coumadin.

 

[Mama2Rylan]

Since I haven't been to the dentist for quite some time now (I don't have dental insurance) my cardiologist is begging me to go...I know I really do need to go but my question is..when i do go and im on coumidin, is there at any time i would need to go off of it?? i know you said for like routine dental work you don't have to, but what if you need a tooth pulled or something?? I don't know if that is the case for me (i'm just trying to think of all angles here...and im probably just really nervous to go to the dentist) but I just want to be prepared for anything that comes my way