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What Causes Myocardial Infarction A Day After Dental Surgery?

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Posted on Sat, 8 Aug 2015
Question: I had dental surgery because of a broken tooth. I was given Marcaine and Epi. I am on Atenolol 50 mg. I was given a second injection after office hours with a script for pain meds. The next day I had possible MI (EKG Was performed) and was rushed to the hospital from the urgent care with very high BP. I was given 5 baby aspirins and 2 doses of Nitro. and I was kept in hospital . Had multiple testing and determined no heart damage or attack. I am allergic to many foods and enviromental. My question is what happened after that last injection that set off this medial issue. My insu is claiming the Dr was negligent in monitoring the BP and medication/injections given so they will not pay XXXXXXX They Had medical consultants review all the medical records. I have seen Cardiologist before and had XXXXXXX and no cardiac issues was found. I did go to see him again after the hospitalization. No issues at that time EKG normal. I am terrified at having the second dental procedure. Thank You.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
Possible clinical scenarios as follows :

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for asking on HCM!

Regarding your concern, I would like to explain that for determining the exact mechanism(s) and etiology of recent health issue, it is very important to review all your clinical scenario and performed medical tests.

Did you experience chest pain during or after the dental procedure? Shortness of breath? Palpitations? Headache? Skin or mucous rash/edema? Nausea? Etc?

What was your vital signs (heart rate, BP, O2sat, etc) before and after your reached the hospital?

Nevertheless, as you have normal previous coronary angiography, and other cardiac tests, the two most probably clinical scenaruos may be:

(1) A bout of an excessive hyperdynamic state (abnormally high blood pressure, racing heart rate and possible arrhythmia), which may have leaded to overall and chest discomfort, dyspnea, palpitations, headache, possible vertigo, nausea, etc. Epinephrine which is generally used with anesthetics, anxiety about the procedure, possible pain, etc, may have contributed altogether bringing this clinical consequence. Not rarely, this clinical scenario, is inevitable, despite a good pre medication.

(2) A possible hypersensitivity to Marcaine (which is already known from several clinical cases in medical literature), may have leaded to a hypersensitivity reaction with all its underlying consewuences. This last possible option is supported by the fact you are atopic (allergic) to seversl foods and compounds.Even this scenario could not be predicted by your dentist, as it is rare.

Both the above mentioned possibilities need close medical evaluation and prompt intervention on a hospital regimen, as they may be sometimes dangerous.

I recommend you to discuss with your attending physician about the exact hospital conclusions on the matter, as it may jeopardise your future dental procedures, if uncertainties remain unresolved.

Hope to have been helpful to you!

Feel free to ask me whenever you need! Greetings! Dr. Iliri
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Ilir Sharka (17 minutes later)
THank you for your response. Yes I have discussed this with the cardiologist and PCP. When 1st injection was administered I started having palpatations. I thought it might be due to anxiety and normal reaction with meds for numbing my jaw. The second injection was given after office hours because of the severity in the pain i was experiencing. He said it would last and I should feel no pain. I also got a script for Hydrocodone. I took 1/2 of a pill only. The next morning I wasnt feeling well even though I had no jaw/tooth pain. By that afternoon it was much worse. BP upon arrival was 195/100 with chest pain radiating neck back shoulders. After one dose of Nitro, BP only went down 5 points and i was given 5 baby aspirins ..Second dose of Nitro given with some relief. Upon arriving at hospital was given morphine and EKG and other testing. I was admitted for observation at that time and kept overnight. It still dont understand why the bills will not be covered.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (4 hours later)
Brief Answer:
You need to discuss with your health insurance company.

Detailed Answer:
Hello again!

From your about explanations, it seems that an excessive hyper-dynamic state (the first possibility I mentioned above) is the most probable explanation.

It doesn't seem to be an allergy issue.

I am sorry to hear that your health insurance company will not cover your hospital treatment.

I think that, this is due of the fact how they may interpret all this history.

They may think, it was just an iatrogenic complication (that is a complication caused by your dentist's negligent applied therapy.

In fact it is recommended that in coronary artery disease patients, it shouldn't be applied anesthetics with epinephrine (as the latter causes blood vessel constriction and may trigger an acute myocardial ischemia and serious complication, like myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, etc.)

But, you were screened for your coronary arteries before and nothing wrong was found. So, your dentist doesn't seem to have applied an inappropriate therapy.

From the other hand, no previous resistant hypertension has been documented on your medical file. This is explained even by your nonexistent anti-hypertensive therapy (as Atenolol 50 mg is a minimal dose, and is not considered a really efficacious BP lowering therapy). So, even from this point, no absolute contraindications for using Marcaine plus Epinephrine could result.

Coming to this point, I could conclude that no clear contraindications for adding Epi exists. And no iatrogenic complications could be clearly demonstrated, unless your dentist may have used an abnormally high anesthetic dose (but I can hardly believe that???!!!)

When dealing with health insurance companies, it is important to clarify all the financial coverage points before agreement, as their sophisticated attorney offices always try to reduce company expenses by formulating remission rules (convenient for the company).

I personally had such an experience with my car insurance company; when I needed their coverage, they told me some sentences written in so small letters, I could not read when signed our agreement paper.

In your case it seems to be only a bad luck.

I recommend you to discuss again with your health insurance company, and ask them if they can really prove it was just a iatrogenic complication, and where do they support such hypothesis (was it abnormally increased anesthetics dose?? or was there any clear contraindications for not using such a therapy?? or a negligence was found on the dentist management strategy, documented on your personal dental file??

I personally think that answering these three questions, will finally clarify this issue.

Wishing you a good health!

Best regards,

Dr. Iliri
Note: Find out which dental treatment will work best for your teeth. Ask here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Ilir Sharka

Cardiologist

Practicing since :2001

Answered : 9536 Questions

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What Causes Myocardial Infarction A Day After Dental Surgery?

Brief Answer: Possible clinical scenarios as follows : Detailed Answer: Hello! Thank you for asking on HCM! Regarding your concern, I would like to explain that for determining the exact mechanism(s) and etiology of recent health issue, it is very important to review all your clinical scenario and performed medical tests. Did you experience chest pain during or after the dental procedure? Shortness of breath? Palpitations? Headache? Skin or mucous rash/edema? Nausea? Etc? What was your vital signs (heart rate, BP, O2sat, etc) before and after your reached the hospital? Nevertheless, as you have normal previous coronary angiography, and other cardiac tests, the two most probably clinical scenaruos may be: (1) A bout of an excessive hyperdynamic state (abnormally high blood pressure, racing heart rate and possible arrhythmia), which may have leaded to overall and chest discomfort, dyspnea, palpitations, headache, possible vertigo, nausea, etc. Epinephrine which is generally used with anesthetics, anxiety about the procedure, possible pain, etc, may have contributed altogether bringing this clinical consequence. Not rarely, this clinical scenario, is inevitable, despite a good pre medication. (2) A possible hypersensitivity to Marcaine (which is already known from several clinical cases in medical literature), may have leaded to a hypersensitivity reaction with all its underlying consewuences. This last possible option is supported by the fact you are atopic (allergic) to seversl foods and compounds.Even this scenario could not be predicted by your dentist, as it is rare. Both the above mentioned possibilities need close medical evaluation and prompt intervention on a hospital regimen, as they may be sometimes dangerous. I recommend you to discuss with your attending physician about the exact hospital conclusions on the matter, as it may jeopardise your future dental procedures, if uncertainties remain unresolved. Hope to have been helpful to you! Feel free to ask me whenever you need! Greetings! Dr. Iliri