Ultrasonic Dental Device
This was the question asked by Pm in October 2016. I'm scheduled for a dentist visit shortly, so I figured I would get my EP's opinion. So today I saw my EP (I just love this woman, she is "Pacemaker Pam) and she suggested I add a bit more information to the conversation.
This was what she suggested....... Of all people who have pacemakers, about 85% are not fully pacemaker dependent and for those people an ultrasound devise or cauterizer or something like that, should be no effect as the pacemaker will sense that everything is working as it should, and your heart rate will drop only to your normal resting heart beat.
BUT if you are 100% dependent on your PM, and as the PM may sense that everything is working properly, then your heart could stop and then you may will be at risk of fainting or worse.
So she suggested that if your PM is near anything that has a electriclal or vibration component you should be careful. Make sure the doctor is aware of both your PM and his/her equipment, and is acutely aware that if he/she sees you close to fainting that the procedure should stop.
Ultrasonic dental device - by Pm - 2016-10-03 00:07:45 - Hi all. Went to dentist a few days ago for a cleaning and when I told her that I now have a P M. She told me that she can't use her ultrasonic cleaning tool on me anymore. So she used her manual instrument. Wasn't the end of the world but took soooo long. Anyone else been told the same thing? What would it do to me if it was used? Thanks for your responses in advance.
Cleaning - My dentist uses it, is just careful to keep the cables away from my chest.
What will happen? - My dental hygienist uses the ultrasound on my teeth every visit. Has done for the last 5 years. The only thing the ultrasound does to me is get my teeth clean. Just my opinion but I think your dental hygienist is being over-cautious, or maybe relying on outdated information.
5 Comments
Very Good Article
by MartyP - 2017-09-20 21:42:12
Thank you !! And so the answer is "it all depends" ..... It depends on the PM, it depends on the device used by the dentist, it depends on the distance the device is from the PM and other dependencies.
If there are any doubts, there is a note in the article .....
"Hand Scaling - Practices without sonic scalers may prefer to use hand instrumentation on patients with fitted pacemakers"
Ultrasonic
by Alma Annie - 2017-09-21 07:52:23
My dentist refused to use it, would only use manual cleaning, so I asked EP who wrote a signed statement to say it was ok to use it, would not interfere with pm. I am 97% paced in atrium. I have not been to dentist for cleaning since, but have had the letter put in my file.
Alma Annie
Same Here
by Shaun - 2017-09-21 09:22:09
Since receiving authorisation from my PM clinic my dentist has used her ultrasonic descaler twice without any problems. I did wonder though whether there's a possibility the interference might have the opposite effect where it causes the PM to pace unnecessarily.
Cavitron
by Grateful Heart - 2017-09-21 13:26:23
This question comes up a lot. According to Boston Scientific, the maker of my 9 year old device, have the dental hygenist run the Cavitron cable under the chair instead of laying across your body. I just had my last visit a week ago, no problems. Call your device company if you have any questions or concerns.
They also use a large ultrasonic dental bath for cleaning and sterilizing their dental tools which they insist on turning off when I am in the office....their policy. I appreciate their use of caution regarding my CRT-D.
Grateful Heart
You know you're wired when...
You play MP3 files on your pacer.
Member Quotes
In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.
Dental ultrasonic descales and pacemakers.
by Selwyn - 2017-09-20 20:08:08
Never had trouble.
A complete review of the subject is
https://www.nature.com/vital/journal/v9/n3/pdf/vital1519.pdf?WT.ec_id=VITAL-20120608&foxtrotcallback=true
Selwyn