Dental work and certain other medical procedures can increase the risk of bacteria entering your bloodstream.

Endocarditis patient Wendy Pomrio says "I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve and most people are born with a tricuspid valve, so I've had a heart murmur all my life."

Wendy's heart murmur never seemed to affect her until last year when she developed a bacterial infection that rarely occurs in people with normal hearts. "I became sick and the infection went to my valve and I was diagnosed with endocarditis."

Cardiologist Brian Hanlon says that "bacteria from endocarditis comes from, usually can come from the mouth, intestinal track, skin and urinary track."

Dr. Hanlon also says that bacterial endocarditis occurs when bacteria in the bloodstream lodges on abnormal heart valves or other damaged heart tissue. Once this is diagnosed, treatment is usually with antibiotics. "You would recommend surgery for it if antibiotics didn't work. A lot of times it's responsive to antibiotics though."

Wendy recovered from her infection and was well enough to recently undergo a procedure to make her heart healthier. "Five weeks ago today I had an aortic valve replacement, and, yeah. I'm doing really well."

You may want to speak with your physician to find out if you have an increased risk for developing bacterial endocarditis. If so, it may be necessary to take antibiotics before having any dental work done or other medical procedures.

The most common procedure that can cause this type of bacterial infection is a simple dental cleaning, which easily causes bacteria in the gums to be released into the blood stream.