Too much flossing can be a bad thing. A Wisconsin woman
learned that the hard way when she got a bacterial infection to her knee
due to excessive flossing.
According to reports, the woman was
taken to the emergency room after suffering from a swollen right knee
and chills. Doctors revealed that the fluids from the knee indicated
that her joints were infected with Streptococcus gordonii, which is a
bacterium that is usually found inside the mouth.
The woman told
her doctors that she voluntarily started a vigorous dental flossing
routine, which ultimately resulted with her gums bleeding. The bacteria
from her mouth most likely spread through the bloodstream onto her knee.
Dr. Ala Dababneh, an infectious diseases doctor at the Mayo Clinic
located in Minnesota stated that this type of situation is extremely
unusual.
“This bacteria lives in the mouth, [but doctors] happened
to find it in a place where we don’t typically find it, which is the
knee joint.”
Doctors allowed the woman, who had knee
replacement surgery 5 years ago, keep her knee replacement. She is fully
recovered and has to continue taking prescribed antibiotics.
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