News
Excessive Flossing Gave Woman A Knee Infection

Excessive Flossing Gave Woman A Knee Infection


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.