Abstract
This chapter discusses diseases of the heart and blood-vessels correlated to the oral tissues. In rheumatic fever, the heart is affected by a systemic disease of the connective tissue. Rheumatic fever is a disease of children and young adults due indirectly to a poststreptococcal sensitization from group A haemolytic streptococcus. The disease is generally preceded by an upper respiratory infection, tonsillitis, or streptococcal infection. Symptoms of acute rheumatic fever include anaemia, leucocytosis, pancarditis, polyarteritis, subcutaneous nodules of fibrinoid degeneration, inflammation of serous membranes, and pneumonitis. The initial rheumatic valvular damage predisposes the heart to future secondary bacterial endocarditis. This latter finding is the prime reason why the dental practitioner must have a fundamental knowledge of rheumatic endocarditis. Correlation of rheumatic endocarditis to dental practice is therefore of prime importance to all dentists. Rheumatic fever is one of a list of systemic diseases which are aggravated by oral foci of infection.
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