Dad-of-two left fighting for his life ‘after getting filling replaced at dentist’
A man had to undergo life-saving heart surgery after he got a filling replaced at the dentist.
James Molloy, 52, had suffered a Type A aortic dissection, a tear in the artery near the heart, back in June last year with his family being told he was lucky to be alive after eight hours of open-heart surgery.
After several months of recovering, he went to the dentist in November for a routine procedure to get one of his fillings replaced, but earlier this month he was rushed to hospital and it took 18 hours of surgery and five doctors to save his life.
James' family fear that he got a skin bacteria in his bloodstream which attacked his new heart valve, and the full extent of the damage done to the dad-of-two is not yet clear.
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They worry that he got a staph infection while having the filling replaced at the dentist and it was this that caused the Cheltenham man's life-threatening condition.
"James was told how to make his life better after an aortic dissection which was exercise, lower your blood pressure and don't be stressed," his brother William said.
"No one had said to us that dental work is the easiest way to get an infection in your heart. In the November, he'd had sore gums and teeth so he had a replacement filling.
"We found out later that cardiology suggest certain heart patients should have preventative antibiotics after treatment while dentists say there's not enough evidence to support the risk."
The family think a common skin bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, which is on many people's skin and generally harmless there, got into his bloodstream and caused an infection.
James had been taking medication and working to keep his blood pressure down after his Type A aortic dissection, a condition with an 80 percent mortality risk.
However, on 11 January he got a fever, erratic heartbeat and was covered in sweat while he was on a visit to Knutsford to see his mum.
Rushed to Macclesfield Hospital, doctors there decided he needed to be transferred to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital for urgent surgery.
William said his brother had been told there was 'a high chance he wasn't going to survive the procedure', but would have died for certain if it hadn't been tried.
He said that his brother went in for surgery at 8am and at 2am the next morning a surgeon came out to tell them that if James lived for another hour they 'would have something to smile about'.
During the 18 hour surgery James got three new heart valves, heart patches, a grafted aortic stem, multiple aortic patches and a pacemaker put in place, and is now in an induced coma so his body can recover.
Doctors tried removing his breathing tube this week but his left lung collapsed so they returned it, and James is also on dialysis for his kidneys as doctors are trying to 'jump start' them.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help his family's finances while he's in hospital so his partner and children will be able to afford the mortgage on their home, as it was 'very, very unlikely he'll be back to work this year' and since he's self-employed getting monetary assistance will be very difficult.
You can donate to it here.
Joe Harker