Recent reports in the medical literature suggest that people who have had a total joint replacement are at slightly increased risk of developing an infection in their joint when an infection occurs elsewhere in the body. For example, an abscessed tooth, bladder infection, pneumonia, or others might result in bacteria being released into the bloodstream which could infect your total joint, long after the surgical procedure took place. This is extremely unlikely and is certainly no cause for alarm, but the problem has been reported more frequently as more total joint procedures are done in the general population. Following the latest protocols, Dr. Mittal’s patients have a 10x less chance of infection as compared to the national average. Nevertheless, we recommend that you should take antibiotics anytime you have an infection, or have an increased risk of infection, such as when you undergo any dental procedure, sigmoidoscopy, any infection, tonsillectomy, genitourinary instrumentation, bronchoscopy, liver biopsy, or barium enema. We do not recommend antibiotics when you have a simple cut or bruise; but if there is any question, we simply ask that you bring this to the attention of the doctor involved in caring for you at that time.