Table 3 Primary reasons for revision of the Infective Endocarditis (IE) Prophylaxis Guidelines Reproduced with permission from Wilson W, Taubert KA, Gewitz M, et al. Prevention of Infective Endocarditis. Guidelines From the American Heart Association. A Guideline From the American Heart Association Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease Committee, Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, and the Council on Clinical Cardiology, Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia, and the Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Interdisciplinary Working Group. Circulation 2007 Apr 19; [Epub ahead of print].¹⁵³ © 2007, American Heart Association, Inc.

IE is much more likely to result from frequent exposure to random bacteraemias associated with daily activities than from bacteraemia caused by a dental, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, or genitourinary (GU) tract procedure

Prophylaxis may prevent an exceedingly small number of cases of IE, if any, in individuals who undergo a dental, GI tract, or GU tract procedure

The risk of antibiotic‐associated adverse events exceeds the benefit, if any, from prophylactic antibiotic therapy

Maintenance of optimal oral health and hygiene may reduce the incidence of bacteraemia from daily activities and is more important than prophylactic antibiotics for a dental procedure to reduce the risk of IE