Vulnerable Britons may be dying due to watchdog not approving dental antibiotics

About 397,000 Britons are at risk of developing the condition as a direct result of undergoing dental treatment because they have had a congenital heart condition or have previously been treated for a cardiac condition. Photograph: skynesher/Getty Images

Patients are dying needlessly every year due to vulnerable Britons with heart problems not being given antibiotics when they visit the dentist, doctors have said.

Almost 400,000 people in the UK are at high risk of developing life-threatening infective endocarditis any time they have dental treatment, the medics say. The condition kills 30% of sufferers within a year.