Q: Which heart condition requires premedications?
(A). Calcified aortic stenosis
(B). Rheumatic heart disease
(C). Ventricular septal defect
(D). Artificial heart valves
Mini Boards Reviews for the National + Local Anesthesia + CSCE Dental Hygiene Boards Exams!
The conditions that require antibiotics prior to dental care according to the most recent American Heart Association guideline (2012) are:
- Cardiac transplant that develops cardiac valvulopathy
- Unrepaired or incompletely repaired cyanotic congenital heart disease, including people with palliative shunts and conduits
- Defects repaired with a prosthetic material or device during the first six months after procedure
- Cases in which a heart defect has been repaired, but a residual defect remains at the site or adjacent to the site
- Artificial heart valves
- History of infective endocarditis
Answer: (D). Artificial heart valves
Heart conditions that DO NOT require prophylactic antibiotics are:
- Mitral valve prolapses
- Rheumatic heart disease
- Bicuspid valve disease
- Calcified aortic stenosis
- Congenital heart conditions such as ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Please check out the guideline from the ADA if you need confirmation!
Now our usual concern… how do we memorize this information effectively for the dental hygiene board exams (NBDHE, NDHCE, CSCE)? Let me share with you how I memorize it. If you look at the conditions that require antibiotics, they have been treated with some sort of “medical surgery.”
- Cardiac transplant: “transplant” is a medical surgery
- Defects repaired with a prosthetic material or device during the first six months after procedure: “prosthetic” needs surgery
- Cases in which a heart defect has been repaired, but a residual defect remains at the site or adjacent to the site: “repaired” means that a surgery was done
- Artificial heart valves: obviously this needed a surgery
We have looked at 4/6 conditions that need premedications. What about the 2 that are left? They are:
- Unrepaired or incompletely repaired cyanotic congenital heart disease, including people with palliative shunts and conduit
- History of infective endocarditis
But at least, we have 4/6 conditions down. As you can see, even if I try my best to come up with tricks to help my students remember facts for the dental hygiene board exams (NBDHE, NDHCE, WREB, CSCE), I know I am not perfect at all. So if you have better ideas, please let me know so we can help other students in the US and Canada for their dental hygiene board exams. Thank you for following StudentRDH! We hope to assist you for the preparing of your BIG DAY!
National (NBDHE, NDHCE)+ Local Anesthesia + CSCE Dental Hygiene Boards Review by StudentRDH
Want to see if StudentRDH works for you?
Start NOW or FREE Trial
(Disclaimer: StudentRDH is NOT affiliated with the NBDHE, NDHCE, CSCE, CDCA, WREB.)
