Went To The Dentist T'Other Day

So after the discontinued checkride, I then worked and went to my dentist's office later that afternoon for their last appointment to get my scheduled cleaning in.

Checked in, met with the hygienist and she asked if I had any health changes or dental issues.

I mentioned the teeth were fine but I now had a new hip.

She then asked if I was pre-medicated.

Blink. Huh? 

It turns out that for a year after joint replacement surgery, if you go to your dentist, you need to take some antibiotics before the dental cleaning.

I knew about not going to the dentist for 3 months prior to the hip surgery, but it somehow didn't get mentioned about post-op dental visits.

Apparently, a dental cleaning can release bacteria from your mouth into your bloodstream, and said bacteria tends to not play nicely with joint replacements.

So I quickly downed a 4 horse-pill sized dose of Amoxicillin that they had at the office to get a proper dose on board, and the cleaning began.

Just an interesting quirk that I hadn't realized was an issue. In short, you really don't want the bacteria from your mouth getting into your bloodstream, and that's partially why bites from other humans are nasty (beyond the obvious) - the infections from the bacteria, especially when its not even your own bacteria are rather bad.

Well, learned something new and very good for the hygienist paying attention to things and for catching it.