Dental Work prior to surgery

[SusanC54]

Hi, I'm new to posting but I've been an avid reader of all these forums for about 5 weeks since I found all of you! VR.com has been a godsend for me in terms of gathering information. Thanks to everyone!

I'm having MVR and AVR on April 25th and recently called to make a dental appointment prior to my surgery. The receptionist at the dentist's office told me to make sure that my surgeon is aware of this routine dental appointment. I was kind of surprised....have always pre-medicated and know that I will experience some changes to this routine after my surgery, which is why I made the appt. b/4 the surgery. Does anyone know why I would need to notify the surgeon?

Also......I live in Minnesota where the Mayo Clinic is located....does anyone out there have experience with having their surgery at Mayo? I'm really interested in hearing from you if so!!!!

 

[sue943]

Hi Susan, not sure what happened in the chat room just now.

Before my AVR/MVR I was checked out by the dental department of the hospital I was in with my endocarditis. The doctors needed to know that I had been checked and my mouth/teeth were ok and hd been checked before they would operate. Could it just be to inform your doctor that you were not in need of treatment soon after surgery?

 

[JimL]

Hi Susan, and welcome!
Several members have had surgery at the Mayo Clinic.
Does the dentist, perhaps, want to make sure it's safe to do whatever he needs to do?

 

[Kathleen]

Welcome

Welcome

Hi Susan
I also wondered what happened in the chat room. I also live in MN and have both the aortic and mitral St Judes valves. I did not have my surgeries at the Mayo since they were not in our insurance network. I live in the twin cities and had my surgeries at Abbott Northwestern. I would be happy to visit if you would like. You can't go wrong with the great medical care in MN.
Kathy

 

[Blanche]

My husband is the valve person. But, you asked for Mayo Clinic experiences. I visited the Scottsdale, AZ Mayo clinic last year when I was seeking another opinion on ovarian surgery. My doctors, and three others I visited said that laproscopic surgery was not possible because of possible cancer. When I visited the Mayo Clinic, the gynecological surgen said he could do the procedure with a robotic laproscopic procedure, and that if there should be other concerns, such as cancer they too could be handled at the same time. Surgery was done on an outpatient basis and I recovered within a week. Cancer was not an issue.

I found the Mayo Clinic to be organized, competent, and patient friendly. All of my lab work and blood work was done on the same day, and....everyone was pleasant and willing to provide complete information about the procedures being undertaken. I have never seen such efficiency, nor have I ever seen such individual, indepth concern for the patient before.

I have recommended the Mayo Clinic to many others here in Arizona. One person has also been treated there and she shares my positive feelings about the experience. Her problem was not heart related.

Hope this helps some.

Blanche

 

[Randy & Robyn]

Hi Susan and welcome to the forum.

I have had valve surgery at Cleveland Clinic and Mayo in Rochester within the past few months. Surgeons are world-class at both institutions. You can't go wrong there. But I would definitely give Mayo the nod for patient care. They are absolutely tops. The entire staff is incredible. You are in for a very comforting experience.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I'm sure it will go fine.

Randy

 

[Natanni]

Hello Susan!

My husband had surgery at the Mayo as well, a couple of weeks before Randy's. He was told he needed to have his wisdom teeth removed prior to his aortic valve replacement. He chose not to do this however. He had endocarditis in July, and he wanted to move on and get his surgery over with. He did have his mouth looked at pretty well while hospitilized with endocarditis, as well as an MRI of his head (trying to find the source of his infection) It has since been my experience that surgeons and cardio's of valver like to keep on top of things going on in the mouth, pre and post the time of surgery. Strep Viridans is most abundant in the mouth, and any deep venous procedures lasting longer than 40 minutes can unleash this bacteria into the bloodstream, where it can invade the valve. There may be a few extra precautions your surgeon will want to consider if you have recently had a dental procedure around your time of surgery.

Welcome to this site!!

Ann

 

[Karlynn]

Welcome Susan!

It's usually the surgeon that tells you to get the dental appointment/work done prior to surgery. So I'm just thinking that maybe the dentist's off was just telling you to let your surgeon know you have this aspect taken care of. I would imagine that the surgeon's only concern would be that you are premedicated prior to the dental appt. and work.

 

[SusanC54]

Thanks for all the input. I contacted the cardiologist's office and they didn't seem to think that two weeks prior to surgery was an issue for dental work, but I decided to try to get the work done earlier if possible just for my own peace of mine so have since rescheduled for a month before surgery.

Re. Mayo Clinic. I recently found out that they have started using On-X valves which was good news for me since i am considering this. They are also supportive of INR self-monitoring. Yay!

I will be having my surgery done by Dr. Charles Mullany. Does anyone have any experience with him here in Rochester?

Some of you responded at how impressed you've been with Mayo Clinic. I've lived here a long time and have always been pleased with their level of care....just never had any experience with OHS! I just had a colonoscopy there today (my PCP recommended that I take care of this before going on Coumadin)......I found out that the Mayo Clinic routinely does 80 - 100 colonoscopies a DAY! Very impressive.

 

[Karlynn]

Sounds like you have all your bases covered! Is your surgery date on our calendar??

 

[geebee]

Happy to hear all is going well and you are set for surgery. I am not personally familar with the Mayo Clinic but, obviously, they have their act together.

Best of luck to you.