Methods: The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a continuous annual series of nationally representative surveys of Medicare beneficiaries. The rotating panel design allows data collection from approximately 12,000 participants interviewed three times annually over four consecutive years. Approximately 4,000 sample persons are replenished annually due to deaths, refusals and rotation out of the survey. Dental visit and health related variables including JR and related infections were analyzed for community dwelling older Americans likely to seek dental care from 1997-2006.
Results: During this 10-year period, 1000 joint replacements were recorded in the inpatient event file for this population. Eighteen (1.8%) had a subsequent joint infection while in the survey. Within 90 days prior to the joint infection, three of the 18 (11%) had a dental procedure, two of which were invasive (e.g., periodontal services, extractions). An additional 24 subjects had a joint infection during the study but had joint replacement surgery prior to entering the MCBS survey. Of these 24, three had a dental procedure in the 90 days preceding the infection, none of which were invasive.
Conclusion: Preliminary analysis of the MCBS for this time period indicates that invasive dental procedures are unlikely to be a common cause of prosthetic joint infections.
Supported in part by the Erwin Schaffer Chair in Periodontal Research.