Simplyhealth urges rethink on dental guidelines to prevent heart infections

Simplyhealth has expressed its view that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) should rethink its dental guidelines to help prevent infective endocarditis in dental patients.

The UK regulator recently announced it will not be changing its current guidance advising dentists against giving antibiotics before invasive treatment to patients at risk of developing infective endocarditis, a life-threatening heart disease.

This is despite a study showing a rise in the number of people diagnosed with the condition since the introduction of this guideline in 2008, alongside a large fall in the prescribing of antibiotic prophylaxis to dental patients.

It was the the largest and most comprehensive study into the impact of the current NICE guidelines, and was conducted by the University of Sheffield with funding from Simplyhealth.

As such, the dental insurer has noted that it is much more cost-effective to administer an antibiotic than to perform surgery which, at a time when NHS resources are stretched, should provide due cause to update the guidance.

Romana Abdin, Simplyhealth's chief executive, said: "We need to take a more preventative approach to infective endocarditis rather than focusing on curing the condition at a more serious stage."