A man in Tennessee claimed his dental care routine almost cost him his life.
The story comes on the heels of a report by The Associated Press that questioned how effective flossing is for dental health.
Bill Knestrick, 52, went to the emergency room earlier this year after experiencing unexplainable fevers, according to WZTV.
Tests showed that oral strep bacteria had made its way to Knestrick’s heart.
When asked if he’d suffered oral bleeding, Knestrick recalled reusing dental brush picks.
Doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center performed open heart surgery to repair the damage caused by the oral bacteria. While often the body can fight off such types of bacteria, in Knestrick’s case, it could have been deadly.
Knestrick is recovering from the surgery. He has switched to traditional string floss and no longer uses brush picks, and wants to warn others about the potential dangers.
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