[HelenP]

Hi,

When you have a dental procedure there is a risk of a small amount of bacteria being introduced into your blood stream, these bacteria are normally killed off by our immune system, but there would be a slightly increased risk in your case of the bacteria settling on your pfo and causing an infection in the heart that could be dangerous. The antibiotics are to kill any of these bacteria before they have chance to settle. You would probably need the antibiotics every time you have treatment in the dentist. I dont think that you need them purely for a check up, but for any treatment (including scale and polish) you would need them.

Hope this makes sense
Helen