Writing in the Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research journal, investigators from Baltimore's Good Samaritan Hospital and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine warned of the risk of infection. They added that patients with artificial knee joints run the risk of infection in those areas from bacteria released during dental procedures such as root canals or extractions.
Dr. Michael Mont, study co-author, says the potential for infection "may be increased in more extensive oral procedures, such as tooth extraction. He stressed that even routine dental procedures can result in bacteria flowing through the body for up to 30 minutes."
Patients taking corticosteroids and other immune-suppressing drugs may be at higher risk, along with those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or diabetes, the researchers say.
Infections resulting from dental work -- which investigators say can take up to seven days to develop -- can result in joint pain and fever.
While researchers say only 0.2 percent of those with joint replacements appear to have developed dental-related infections, 11 percent of such infections occurred following visits to the dentist.
