Expert outlines eight cases requiring preventive antibiotics for artificial heart valve patients

Cardiology consultant and professor Khaled Al-Nemer has emphasized the importance of administering preventive antibiotics to patients with artificial heart valves in eight specific cases.

Al-Nemer explained on the X platform that patients with artificial heart valves—whether surgically implanted or via catheter—should receive preventive antibiotics only before certain procedures, including tooth extraction, gum surgery, or deep dental cleaning.

He added that these cases also include dental implants, most root canal treatments, taking tissue or bone samples, fitting orthodontic bands, injecting anesthetic into the ligament, and draining a dental abscess.