I was told to consult the dentist about what to do- that its dependent on the actual procedure (for a cleaning, its two days off and then back to previous dose with an INR check within a couple of days of procedure) and for serious stuff my dentist will have to see my warfarin record book and talk to my Doctor. I was told this by another warfarin clinic user who got a cleaning but that was a couple of years ago so things may have changed. Talk to your dentist and see what they say.

I would talk to your dentist/surgeon about this and see what they say. For some minor stuff, they may not need you to go off at all.

I would be cautious about going off the warfarin without also using the injections to start and stop. When I had my surgeries in 2011, I was told that restarting warfarin without using the Lovenox as well, could actually make you hyper-coaguable for a few days. The Lovenox was there to make sure that didn't happen while you got back into range on the warfarin.

I google'd to try to find some info on that, but didn't come up with anything ... maybe someone else here has some info on this?

Never, ever just take yourself off and put yourself back on. You run the risk of clotting that way. I've had several surgeries while on Warfarin, and I always bridge with Lovenox. Even with only being off Warfarin for a week, it can take quite a while to become therapeutic once going back on it. Plus, there are a lot of times when I go off it and then go back on with a completely different dosage. Definitely not something you want to navigate on your own. Most dental work doesn't require you to go off Warfarin at all, so check with your dentist first. If he/she recommends it, then go to your hematologist or internist or whoever monitors your INR and get his/her recommendation for how to proceed. I never go off for cleanings (and I've been a lifer for nearly 10 years now). I just remind them about it before they start, and they take a little extra care while cleaning around the gums. Easy stuff.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I will be getting new doctors when we move. The periodontal work might lead to having to have an implant which I am not looking forward to.

Funny that you mention periodontal... I'm just going through that myself.

BUT.
I have the option of having it done the traditional way (cut, sew...) or simply done with lazors technology (see LANAP procedure)
NO cut, no stitches no worry. Plus, the procedure is finished with a blood clotting whatnot...
here is a link to the procedure...
http://www.lanap.com/demo.php

Hey Dero I'm sort of an expert in the gum disease area. I went almost 16 years without seeing a dentist. I was told that I would lose all of my teeth within in ten years if I didn't do anything about it. I looked into the Laser Assisted New Attachment proceduer and saw that it had some great benefits, but it is a very expensive procedure. What I did was a regular Scaling and Root Planing in conjunction with another device called Perio-Protect. They are custom fitted trays that deliver a powerful antibiotic along with chemical debriding agents that help your gums heal after they are cleaned up. It worked well for me. I went an entire year without bleeding or any plaque buildup. You have to waer them for 15 minutes at t aitme 5 times a day right after your teeth are cleaned and then you only use them twice a day for the rest of your life. They are kind of expensive, and there are a lot of mixed reviews about the procedure, but it worked for me. I have plaque building up again on my bottom teeth because I haven't been to the dentist in over 15 months now and I do not have any more medicine to put into my cistom fitted Perio-Protect trays because you need a prescription for that.

I have also been grapling with how to go about getting my teeth back in order while being a lifer on warfarin. Also Dero, if your situation gets really bad, there are great alternatives to dentures and bad teeth. There is a new breakthrough called Mini-Implants where they can remove all of your teeth and replace the roots with small posts "significantly smaller tha traditional implant posts" and lay down an entire set of new top and bottom teeth in 4 hours. They are immediate load implants, which means they can be used immediately.

They are almost better and stronger then real teeth, and since you are replacing the missing teeth with a metal post, your bone acrually grows around the post, and you do not have any firther bone loss. Right now my bone loss is about 20 percent! I'm still good, but if my gums ever get really bad I'm going to pay the 7500 bucks and get the Mini-Implants. Also, if you have a lot of bone loss, they can do bone grafts to prepare you for the implants. I had to have one tooth pulled due to neglect and I have a bovine bone graft in the empty socket waiting for the day when I get an implant. You'd be amazed at how handicapped you are when you get just 1 tooth pulled.

Any how, please read up on the Perio-Protect system. I sit here tyoing this remembering how freaked out I was about having Periodontal Disease and all I can do is wish that was the only thing that I have to deal with again. I was so depressed when I lost one tooth, I wanted to have a funeral for it, I was focused on it for months. Now I look back and it was so trivial. I'm keeing a running list of medical ailmanets lol. I also discovered in 2006 that I had an Amblyopia which has messed with my 3-D visions. It seems like every couple of years I'm discovering something else that is wrong with me. It's like the movie Twins with Arnond Schwartzenegger and Danny Devito, out of the two twins I got the shit. Any how, I hope you get it all straightened out. Please keep us posted on how the procedure goes and what the doctors make you do with your blood thinners.

With regard to the periodontal treatment, I have had two of my back teeth pulled over the past 20 years or so due to bone loss.
I had a root canal on another back tooth over 2 years ago but was told that this was not a "happy" tooth. Who knows what that means.
Anyway, my dentist took an x-ray during my yearly visit and noticed something going on in the area of the root canal. Sends me to a periodontist who wants to go in and take a look and possibly pull the tooth and prepare it for a transplant.
I nearly died when he told me that. I hate going to the dentist. Anyway, I will need to see a new periodontist when I get to my new home which should be next week. I want the least invasive procedure.

Root canals aren't reliable. I spend over 1500 dollars on my cracked tooth only to be told "while in the middle of a root canal" that the tooth couldn't be saved. I wanted to have it yanked months before on the road when it first cracked. The dentists in Kansas City talked me into trying to save it and when they did a temp repair job on it, they completely sealed the entrances to the roots and destroyed my tooth. Mind you the tooth was down to just a small piece any how. Sometimes it's just better to pull the tooth.

Did you check out any of that info I posted on the Preio-Protect sytetm Dero? I am gonna get back on that soon. The LANAP is good if you can affrod it because once the diseased gum tissue is removes they use the laser to carterize the wound and seal it up. The dental trays I have costed me 1k. I had to work for an entire year to get the 6k needed to fix my teeth up in 2010. I got all four quadrants deep cleaned "didn't need to cut and flap my gums" got 6 pinhole cavities folled with composite, and then got the back tooth pulled and a bovine bone graft placed in the socket. It was a pretty daunting experience. When they pulled the tooth and you can hear it cracking and all of that it's not a pleasant thing to go through. Not while you're awake any how.

Oh, if you do get fillings, I don't recommend the composites. I still have trouble when I bite down on one tooth where it feels like an electric shock type of pain everytime. Apparently the composites aren't as durable as the Amalgum fillings. But if you choose to get the silver fillings, you are going to have to deal with toxic mercury in your mouth. But you will have less pain with the Amalgum fillings. Dental work is one of the most complex and scary type of work you can ever have done to your body. I'm kind of glad they stopped half way into the root canal, because even though they gave me enough novacane that I couldn't blink my left eye, I could still feel some pain when they wre probing the roots of my tooth. It would have not been a very pleasant experience to say the least.

Remember: Check out Perio-Protect and Mini-Implants! Read up on those two things because they can be life savers if you ever need them.

Yes, I have been researching this LANAP procedure, just the fact that I don't need to get my gums butchered is one MAJOR reason for chosing LANAP. My health insurance is covering it at 80%, THAT'S why I pay for a premium insurance group.
I have been talking with my dentist who reffered me to this specialist and specially in my case he does recommend LANAP, he said, had this been two years prior to now, maybe not so. He says that they have immensly have improved this science. Now I just have to talk to my Hemotologist, I'm sure that she will give me her blessing, like she once told me, anything that can replace a knife is GOOD. I still have lots of time to research this, I'm planning on getting this done during the summer, so I don't miss on work... (how we are dependant of work,sigh).

You should also look into perio protect for long term maintenance of your gums. With medical insurance you can get the perio protect trays for free. Your health insurance should be able to cover them under a medical device. I know what you're saying about work. I need to start looking for a job or retraining very soon. I don't have a truck to drive anymore and now I need to hone my office skills.

Well phase one of two of this "Lanap Procedure"....
www.lanap.com
and let me tell you, I was glad to get home to where my pain killers were. Two hours on the dentist's chair, my periodentist is excellent, "Denis this is going to be uncomfortable" she would warn me, what she really meant, "this is gonna f****n hurt". She did say that the alternative (Periodontal surgery) is a LOT worst, plus the recovery for me (because I'm on anticoags) would be hell. HAlf of my mouth is done and I go back on the 29th of July to get the rest done.
Recovery for this is a three week diet, the first 4 days are a liquid diet, then I can move on to mushy foods, no brushing or flossing, I can do a light rinse with this Peridex (antibacterial rinse)
I'm on anti-imflamatories (Ibuprofen 4) and antibiotics and of course my anticoags and according to my Hemo they should all get along (I checked with her before I even filled that script.(I also double checked with my Pharmacist).
You'de think I'm antiwhatnot with all of these antimeds... lol

Right, add an extraction of a tooth I had been putting off for a while (like many others here) So that was my day yesterday, buzzzzzzzzz...

You have a good dentist. They must have done a really good job with the deep cleaning if they spent that long on one quadrant of your mouth. I had my deep cleaning done in about 45 minutes. The dentist kind of rushed it because I went to a low budget place. I didn't think LANAP was supposed to be that painful? Any how, were they able to stop the bleeding after they extracted your tooth? I', just wondering about all that because my gums are bleeding again and I need to go in and have another deep clean very soon. I hope you feel better man. Good luck with the rest of your procedure!

I had a DVT in late Feb and the Warfarin could never get me above 1.3. pt/INR. My primary talked with my dentist and told him NO dental work until my blood got thinner. I am 6 weeks on Xarelto and yesterday my Primary gave permission for deep cleaning but no root canal or 2 extractions I need because of bone loss.

re:. the bleeding after the tooth exo.
The last step of Lanap is to cartorize(burn shut basicaly) the whole gum, which took care of the exo site.
That is one of the reason I am on a liquid diet presently (third and last day) then I can start eating some "mushy foods".
I have been on Pradax for the last 2 years, July is my anniversary for this clot 2011 and the 2007 one.

I am waiting for approval from my insurance company before I schedule an appointment with the periodontist. He wants to do a "flap". Hopefully that will save the tooth. The periodontist in NY wanted to pull out the tooth and do an implant. This dentist said once you pull a tooth you cannot put it back so we are going with a less invasive procedure.
I decided to stop taking Warfarin about 3 weeks ago. My doctor left it up to me. I had been taking it for 8 months after the second DVT. Whether or not I wanted to stay on it for life was completely up to me.
Because I was waiting to get periodontal work done and because I have horrible shoulder pain, I decided to go off Warfarin for good.
Now I can take ibuprofen again and my shoulder is much much better. The cure for what I have, impingement syndrome, is ibuprofen and since I was not allowed to take that, I was never going to get the pain relief that I needed. I felt like an invalid with a broken arm.
I will be much more cognizant of my legs from now on and if my calf hurts, I will make sure to get it checked out.