Can Military Service Aggravate Bicuspid Aortic Valve?

Posted on Fri, 12 Jun 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 Answered on

Fri, 3 Jul 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Is it plausible, possible, or even probable that a bicuspid aortic valve would be aggravated by military service? (ie...vigorous physical training, multiple field trainings, multiple invasive dental procedures without pre-medicating with antibiotics in which infections took place (wisdom teeth), and stress of serving during wartime, and also serving a hardship tour in Korea)

Answered by Dr. Benard Shehu (49 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Following answer to your query.

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you for asking!
I read your query and understood your concerns.

Military service couldn't aggravate bicuspid aortic valve, howmeter intense is the military training.

The only complication that is related to invasive dental procedures is infective endocarditis. However infective endocarditis is manifested with high fever, loosing weight, sweat and chills etc.

Infective endocarditis is never asymptomatic and can be detected by :
- cardiac echo
- blood work including blood culture

As long as you are symptomless and nothing was found on cardiac echo you shouldn't worry.

Hope this was of help!
Wish you health!
Dr. Shehu

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar